Pokemon: The Perslas Region
by whamman5
Summary: Set within a new region called the Perslas Region, join up with the new trainer Will and Squirtle as they work to become Pokemon Masters, alongside their new friend Bella and her Eevee.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** I'd like to thank you all for taking your time to read this fanfic ahead of time and encourage you to comment and review. I'm not going to get any better if no one wants to tell me what I'm doing wrong, right XD. But in all seriousness please post your comments. Now then sit back, relax, and enjoy your adventures in the Perslas Region.

The sounds of the roaring crowd swelled throughout the stadium as two silhouetted figures appeared on opposite sides of the fields

The sounds of the roaring crowd swelled throughout the stadium as two silhouetted figures appeared on opposite sides of the fields. Soon everything became quiet as the voice of the announcer boomed throughout the stadium.

"Welcome everyone to the final round of the Perslas Pokemon League Championship. Today we'll find out who will be the Pokemon Master, and so let's give it up for our two contestants; Mikhail Ruslan and Will Marshall."

The crowd roared again as the spotlights hit the two contestants, especially as they hit a young, brown-haired boy in a polo shirt. He was standing there with a bit of a grin, brimming with confidence in the face of his much larger opponent. Pulling out the red and white sphere that was the Pokeball, Will was about to release his first Pokemon when an annoying buzz begun to pierce the scene.

"Time to wake up Will! Time to wake up Will!"

Will's blue-eyes opened up in surprise at the blasting, annoying sound of the Chatot alarm clock of his. Depressed at being interrupted in the middle of such a wonderful dream, he shut the alarm off before snuggling underneath the covers again. Five minutes later, however, he jumped up in a panic.

"Wait, today's the day I'm supposed to get my first Pokemon. Great, I'm going to be late."

The young trainer had just celebrated his tenth birthday the day before, and would have gotten his Pokemon that day if the local lab wasn't closed down. Then again, it wasn't surprising; his own grandfather, the famous Professor Isaac Marshall, ran the lab. Of course the party was gone and done, and so it was time for that momentous occasion in any trainers life; his first Pokemon.

"And I'm going to be late for it." He reiterated as he finished pulling on his jeans. Grabbing his pairs of shoes he raced down the stairs before putting them on (he had learned long ago to not to try and do both at the same time). He had just gotten his last shoe on as his mom walked in, carrying his backpack. One could easily tell she was upset, but what mom wouldn't be when their child was going off to explore the world?

"Here you go Will. I packed everything you'll need; extra clothes, some money, first aid kit, some food for the first few days till you reach the next town, a survival guide, and a map."

Will grabbed the backpack, and without reluctance hugged his mom for what would be the last time before he headed out on his journey.

"Don't worry mom, everything will be fine. Lots of kids go through this." He said in an attempt to comfort both his mother and himself. Letting go he headed over to the door, and with one last goodbye he was off.

Seeing as the lab was on the other side of the town, he decided he'd get one last look of it while he had the chance. The first thing that anyone saw, after the lab of course, was the town banner that let everyone who came here know where they were. In big, bolded letters it said "Rising Town: Where futures rise to the occasion". Admittedly the motto was a bit cheesy, but it was still his hometown. It was a small town, and most of the buildings were simple two-floor wooden houses. Even then there weren't a lot of them, and that was part of the charm. Everybody knew everyone, though that did have the side effect of you not being able to hide anything.

"Hey there Will. Big day today, uh? Good luck with your journey. Tell your grandfather I said hi." An old man said to Will while grabbing his morning paper.

"Thanks Mr.Taylor." Will said as he passed by the man.

Eventually Will made his way over to the lab, and walking up to the door he stepped inside. No one was around, but right on the nearby table were three Pokeballs. Inside were the starter Pokemon for all who started their journey in the Perslas region; the fire-lizard Charmander, the water-turtle Squirtle, and the plant-monster Bulbasaur. Will walked up to them, and he was about to touch one of them when a voice boomed from behind him.

"Ah, there you are Will. Slept in again I see? Not a good way to start your journey, is it?"

"Hello there Grandpa." Will said as he turned around. Standing in front of him was his grandfather in his usual white lab coat. Even for his age he was pretty fit, and his hair had only lost a bit of it's brown-coloring, though there were a few white hairs in there. He wore a set of wire-frame glasses over his blue eyes that always had a hint of trouble in them.

"So then, any thoughts as to which of those three you wanted to start with. All of them are excellent of course, but it is up to you."

"Well, I'm not really sure. I can see an advantage for all of them in battling against the gym leaders and…" Will started to say before his grandfather interrupted him.

"Will, how many times have I told you to not worry about things like that. Sure, there are strengths and weaknesses amongst the Pokemon of the world, but just because one Pokemon is mathematically better doesn't mean it's truly better. Just go with the one you think will suit you best."

"Alright Grandpa, I'll try."

Will always got speeches like that from his Grandpa, and was a perfect way to show the difference between them. Will's grandpa preferred to look at things in a more emotional, philosophical way while Will tended to gravitate towards mathematical way (which makes him wonder if maybe they would do better to switch their views on life). Of course they overlapped quite a bit at times, but in general Isaac was more laid back than Will.

With that in mind Will decided to try and think more like his Grandpa as he tried to make his decision, but his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell going off. Isaac told Will to focus on choosing his Pokemon while he got the door, but Will had to turn around to see who it was. It was a man whose clothing was all black and grey, though the main features of him were his black coat (with tails), gloves, and snow white hair.

"Are you Professor Isaac?" The main asked.

"Yes, is there something I can help you with?"

"I'll be needing all of your research on the legendary Pokemon Lugia and Ho-oh, and I'll be needing it now. If you will not comply then I will use force." The man said. Though Will couldn't see it, he knew that his grandfather was smiling.

"Well then, I guess you'll have to use force then because quite frankly I am not going to give a thug like you that information."

The man frowned, and soon with a flash a Pokemon appeared in the lab. Near the man was an all black Pokemon with very sharp claws; a Sneasel. Isaac, however, had not released a Pokemon yet, instead just standing there smiling.

"Come on old man. Let out your Pokemon or I'll just have my Sneasel here go through you himself."

"Why, my Pokemon is already out and about. Ah, here he comes now."

The man looked around the lab to see what Isaac was talking about, but he was soon knocked out cold a massive force hit him in the back of the head. As the man collapsed a round, pink Pokemon appeared on top of him and said only one word; "Jigglypuff."

"Now then Jigglypuff, use Rollout on this Sneasel here and we'll be done here."

As Jigglypuff plowed into the bewildered Sneasel, Will was busy watching the entire scene from the background, laughing at it. He knew full well that his grandfather used a Jigglypuff, and that said Pokemon could be very vicious. Anyone who knew his grandfather would have known not to try something so stupid as threatening him directly unless they were asking for a Rollout attack to knock them out.

As he stood there, however, Will heard noises coming from upstairs. He was going to alert the professor, but it seemed that the man had recovered from his injuries and was up and going again. The Sneasel and Jigglypuff were locked in battle, and it looked as if it wasn't going to end anytime soon.

_Whoever is up stairs must be working with this guy, but grandpa's too busy to stop it. I guess I'll have to stop them myself… but I don't even have a Po..ke..mon._

Will mentally slapped himself as he recalled the three Pokeballs behind him. Grabbing the first one he saw he ran up the stairs to find a women, wearing the same outfit as the man, grabbing the professor's laptop.

"Hey, give that back. That belongs to my grandpa." Will said, holding the Pokeball in a ready-to-throw pose. The woman just rolled her eyes.

"Please, a little punk like you isn't of concern to me. Houndour, take care of him for me would you." The woman said as a flash of red light materialized into the black-furred dog Pokemon, just as she left the room by the window. This of course led Will to release the Pokemon he had brought up with him, and was glad to see the familiar shape of Squirtle appear in the light.

"Squirt?" The turtle said, confused as to what was going on. All it saw was an angry Houndour and a human that looked as if it was expecting something.

"Squirtle, see that Houndour there? It works for some people trying to hurt my Grandpa, Isaac."

Squirtle just tilted his head, confused as to what was going on. He knew who Isaac was, but he had no clue who this human was. And what was the Houndour doing to them anyways?"

"Houndour, use Ember."

Will looked up at the window, startled to find a small spy cam was floating in front of the window. It was kind of clever of the woman really; by being outside she could make a quick escape if needed, but the camera allowed her to see the fight. Adding in that Pokeball (that was probably Houndour's) she could move quick and easily.

That, however, would have to be dealt with later. Right now a burst of flames was being sent towards Squirtle, and Will had to react quickly.

"Squirtle, get into your shell and use it as a shield to defend yourself."

Not needing a second opinion Squirtle did as he was ordered, hiding inside his shell until the flames were gone. Soon the turtle popped out, and looked much more determined than before. It knew that this human was in danger and that Isaac was in danger. What better reason to fight than that?

"Alright then Squirtle use…"

Before Will could get an order out Squirtle was running straight towards the Houndour, ready for a full blown Tackle attack. The Houndour, Will noticed, wasn't moving an inch at the sight. Which meant only one thing.

"Squirtle, jump!" Will said. Squirtle looked back at Will, but when the temperature of the room went up he knew more flames were coming. With a quick jump into the air Squirtle dodged the flames (though Will had to run into the hall to avoid them), and finished off with a Tackle right on Houndour. It didn't take long for the dog to go down after that, and he was soon returned to his master. The woman, however, was long gone with the laptop, so it didn't really matter.

"Good job there Squirtle. We make a good team, don't we?"

"Squirtle squirt" The turtle Pokemon said, and Will had to assume it was meant something along the lines of "I agree" since Squirtle seemed proud and glad when he said it.

"And I agree with Squirtle there. You two make an excellent team. I assume that he'll be your starter then."

Turning around Will found his Grandpa and Jigglypuff standing in the doorway, both smiling. Will started trying to explain what had happened (since the room was singed all around he needed a good reason), but his Grandpa stopped him.

"Don't worry about it, I have a good idea what happened. Lucky for me that laptop had nothing about Lugia or Ho-ho on it, or at least not anything people can find out normally. Bunch of low-brained crooks really. Did they really expect me to have important research just sitting on a table?"

"Uh, Grandpa?" Will intervened.

"Oh, right, sorry. Anyway, I've contacted Officer Jenny, and they'll track down that woman. As for the man, he and his Sneasel are down for the count. Seems they couldn't withstand Jigglypuff's Rollout."

"Jigglypuff." The Pokemon said, crossing his arm's and standing heroically.

"So then, just come downstairs and I'll give you your Pokedex and starter Pokeballs."

The group headed downstairs, and Will waited anxiously as his grandpa grabbed his started gear.

"William Marshall, I officially recognize you as an official Pokemon trainer with Squirtle as your starter. Here is your official Pokedex and starter Pokeballs. Good luck on your journey." Isaac said in a mock ceremonial voice.

"Thank you Grandpa. I'm going to make everyone here proud. Squirtle and me are going to be the greatest Pokemon-Trainer team that ever lived, aren't we." Will said to his new friend and partner.

"Squirtle" The turtle Pokemon said with a nod and a smirk.

"I know you will make us all proud Will. And remember, if you ever need any help please give me a call."

And with that Will and Squirtle headed off, ready to take on whatever the Perslas region could dish out. Wild Pokemon, trainers, Gym Leaders, they were ready for anything.

* * *

"So then, that laptop you have recovered from Professor Isaac's lap didn't contain any new information concerning Lugia or Ho-oh?"

"No sir, there was nothing. It seems that the Professor is smarter than most on keeping his important files safe."

"Indeed he is. However, this is just a minor setback. The information he has is available outside of his works, though admittedly it was already neatly packaged in his works. We'll just have to take the harder route of getting it in bits and pieces throughout the region. Oh well, it makes things more…_interesting."_

* * *

**Author's Notes: **If you are reading this then I assume you just read all of that above (if you haven't go read it NOW). Well then, for your reward you get...to vote what Pokemon Will catches next XD. Will it be;  
1.A Pidgey  
2.A Spearow  
3.A Taillow  
4.A Starly

Yes, they are all birds. How very boring, right? Well don't worry, after that first route there will be a much larger variety of Pokemon in the region. Besides, every trainer needs a good bird Pokemon, right.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Well, only got to votes so I was forced to flip a coin. Pidgey won. Yay. Anways, enjoy the next chapter of our little story. And remember that Pokemon does not belong to me in anyway whatsover. If I did, Ash wouldn't get his badges so easily, and he'd stop giving up his Pokemon at the beginning of each season....

* * *

"Ah, Brush Hill Path. I used to come up here with my friends and play here all the time. Kind of has a different feel to it though now that I'm going onto it as a trainer." Will thought out loud, his view overlooking the path in front of him.

Brush Hill Path was the first official route in the Perslas Region, and it's really did deserve that position. It wasn't a tough route at all since it was mostly a straight route filled with tall grasses and gentle slopes. There were no surprises here at all. It was just a nice, simple, easy route that was a great way for a beginner trainer to get on their feet. And catch some new Pokemon in the process of course, something Will was itching to do.

Trainers, however, can't catch any Pokemon without a little help from their own Pokemon, and so Will pulled out the Pokeball belonging to his Squirtle. And with a stream of red light, the blue turtle Pokemon was on the scene.

"Squirtle?" The turtle asked with a confused twist to his head.

"Hey there Squirtle. Ready to help me catch my first wild Pokemon?" Will asked as he squatted down to Squirtle's eye level.

"Squirtle squirt!" The turtle said, clenching his hand into a fist to show off his excitement. Will, glad to see that his Pokemon matched his enthusiasm, stood up to get a better look at the area.

"Well then, lets see which Pokemon will be our first target. Nothing to the left, nothing to the right, nothing ahead." Will said, his voice starting to sound more worried with every repeat of the work 'nothing'.

"Where are all the wild Pokemon today? There usually are at least a few Rattata playing around somewhere."

Rubbing his chin, a sign of thinking for his part, Will looked again for a sign of wild Pokemon. There was, however, no sign of life anywhere. Not even near the small pond that was found on the route. For a trainer, this was probably the most depressing kind of situation that you could have; eager to catch a wild Pokemon, but not one to be found.

"Doesn't look like there is anything out playing today Squirtle. Guess we'll move on towards Darkroot Forest and hope for better luck there." Will said, depressed.

Deciding to take advantage of the situation, Will left Squirtle out of his Pokeball. Sure, they couldn't catch any wild Pokemon, but that didn't mean they couldn't bond. With that the two headed towards Darkroot Forest, a slow and steady journey up the route.

The events from earlier in the day at the lab, and sleeping in, had pushed Will's journey back, and before they were even halfway there it was around lunchtime. Both Will and Squirtle knew it, as evidenced by the little rumbling in their stomachs.

"Well, guess we'll have some lunch first before heading onwards. Let's just hope that Pokefood my mom made is any good because it's all I got for you till we reach the next town." Will said as he pulled out the provisions.

Soon the two of them were sitting down, munching on their respective lunches of a sandwich and Pokefood. As they sat Squirtle looked up, disturbed by some sound. Will didn't need to ask what the problem was as he had a pretty good guess of what it was.

"Wild Pokemon nearby."

"Squirtle."

With that Will dropped the last bits of his sandwich as bait while he and Squirtle positioned themselves inside the tall grass to hide and wait. Soon a small Rattata appeared and began sniffing the food.

"Now then, lets see what kind of info we got on this." Will said as he pulled out his Pokedex. After some flashing of lights and beeps, the machine began to speak in its mechanical, monotone voice.

"Rattata, the Mouse Pokemon. Cautious in the extreme, its hardy vitality lets it live in any kind of environment."

After closing up the Pokedex, Will smiled. A Pokemon like that would be an excellent addition for his team, and he was about to give the order for Squirtle to attack when suddenly a bird swooped down and grabbed the food, scattering the Rattata. The bird soon landed nearby to eat its gains, and Will once again pulled out his Pokedex.

"Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokemon. It is docile and prefers to avoid conflict. If disturbed, however, it can ferociously strike back."

"A Pidgey, heh? I've heard that they tend to be pretty good Pokemon once they evolve. Think we should take a shot at it?" Will asked his turtle companion.

"Squirtle." The Pokemon responded with a nod.

Soon the wild Pidgey's meal was interrupted by the impact of Squirtle's Tackle attack. The bird Pokemon was sent a flutter, but soon it was standing and ready for a battle. Seeing as hiding was of no more concern, Will moved out from the grass and got ready for battle himself.

"Alright Squirtle, nice shot. Now then, let's see if we can get another good one in."

"Squirtle." The turtle acknowledged. He soon rushed towards Pidgey, but the flying Pokemon took advantage of it's wings and simply flew out of the way. Squirtle's momentum, however, couldn't be so easily avoided, and the turtle Pokemon tripped onto the ground.

"Squirrr." He grumbled before standing up to face the Pidgey yet again. The Pokemon, however, was nowhere to be seen. A flap of wings, however, could be heard in the area, and so Squirtle moved just in time to miss the Pidgey's Tackle attack from behind.

"Smart little Pidgey, isn't it? Well, we are smarter. Squirtle, Tackle attack again but take advantage of your shell." Will said, purposefully giving out a vague order. He was hoping Squirtle would understand and act on his own.

Will's faith was well rewarded. Squirtle performed another Tackle attack, and Pidgey dodged just as expect. When the bird Pokemon came in for a Tackle of its own, however, it was met with a face full of Squirtle's back. Squirtle, taking the momentum of the failed Tackle, had pushed himself backwards. This, with Pidgey's own momentum, combined to create one painful headache for the bird.

Sadly, it seemed this Pidgey could take a lot of punishment before it could go down as it was soon standing and ready to go another round. Will, knowing that such a trick wouldn't work again, was at a lost of what to. Squirtle was also at a lost for a moment. This one moment, however, gave the Pidgey the chance it needed to launch a Sand-Attack. Soon dirt and dust was being launched into the air, and the trainer/Pokemon team was forced to cover their eyes. When all was calm, the Pidgey was gone.

"Aw man, it fled. Darn, and it seemed like such a good one too. Can't win them all though."

As Will cleaned up what was left of the lunch, the air felt bleak. Will was sad at the missed chance to add a new Pokemon to the team, and Squirtle was upset at losing his first battle against a wild Pokemon. At least cleanup didn't take too long, and soon the pair were up and moving towards Darkroot Forest.

Still, such a rough start to the journey fell heavy on their minds, and soon the two were planning on trying to lure the Pidgey out into the open once again. It would cost the two their dinner, but they didn't care much for that. One missed meal would be worth the cost of capturing the Pidgey. Pulling out some Pokefood and some leftover meatloaf his mom packed, Will spread it out over a small area (he felt leaving it all in one spot would be too obvious). Stepping back, Will collected small pile of pebbles so he could assist Squirtle in the battle, plus scaring of any other Pokemon that came nearby.

It was almost nightfall by the time a Pidgey arrived to the buffet, and considering how dirty it looked Will was almost certain it was the same one. The Pidgey was more cautious as it ate, so when Squirtle came barreling out, it easily just flew up into the air. Unlike last time, however, Will had his hands on some pebbles and soon the Pidgey was under assault from two directions. While the pebbles didn't hurt it, they were annoying enough to be a useful distraction as Squirtle jumped into the air with a Tackle attack. Pidgey was sent spiraling into the ground, and this time it seemed that the Pokemon was down for the count. Squirtle started poking at the bird Pokemon, which responded with a flurry of flapping and screeching. Squirtle stumbled backwards in shock, but that was the last bit of energy the Pidgey had. It stood for about one moment before falling back down to the ground.

Will knew what to do at this point. Pulling out one of the five white-and-red balls given to him by his grandfather Professor Isaac, Will threw it at the Pokemon alongside a cry of "Pokeball, go." It tapped the Pidgey on the head before engulfing it within the red light. For a moment the red light on the center of the ball glowed, but eventually the ball stopped moving.

"Yeah, Pidgey is ours Squirtle. Good work on getting that aerial attack in." Will said, patting the turtle Pokemon on the head.

"Squirtle squirtle." The turtle replied, a cheerful grin on his face.

Looking up at the night sky, Will could tell that going into the forest would not be a good idea. He had heard rumors of ghost Pokemon haunting the woods, so it would be safe for all involved if they stayed here.

"Well Squirtle, it started out rough but it turned out into a good day. Now let's rest up for tomorrow. I've heard that Darkroot Forest is a tough place for even more experienced trainers. So let's get some shut eye, all right?" Will said as he started pulling out the sleeping bag that his mom packed.

Squirtle replied with a yawn and a "Squirtle", and soon he was back safe and sound within his Pokeball as Will snuggled into his sleeping bag.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Well they had a fun day, didn't they. Anyways, I'd like to thank NomaKid and writer's block 2000 for reviewing and voting. Now then, I want the rest of you viewers to take their lead and vote for one of the following; Caterpie, Weedle, Nincada, Spinarak


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Thanks again for all the reviews and favorite author/stories I've been getting lately. I believe I replied to the reviews already since they required some larger explanation than what I wanted to fit in here. Anyways, I do apologize for last chapter a bit. Seems the poll didn't get in the first time I loaded it up, so I only ended up getting one vote. My bad. So then, enjoy, and remember I do not own Pokemon in any shape or form, minus the 303 Pokemon I captured on Diamond (finally reached that mark over the weekend, yay).

* * *

"Okay, that's it, I'm ready to get out of here." Will said after jumping up from yet the sound of another mysterious tracker.

Every since he had entered Darkroot Forest Will had been feeling uneasy, and the random sounds of breaking twigs and Pokemon cries didn't help the situation. He had hear plenty of stories about people being lost for days in this forest, and some never came out period. Or at least that is what the stories told.

In any case, the forest itself helped lend to the idea. Darkroot Forest was notorious for being just so thick that even sunlight was almost completely blocked out. There was just enough light that one could see where they were going, but not that far. It was also filled to the brim with Bug Pokemon, and when one can barely see where they are having Pokemon drop out of nowhere or crawling over you doesn't help. The worst thing of all, however, was the Gastly that lived in these woods. If the dark woods, mysterious noises, and creepy crawlies didn't get to you, the Ghost Pokemon would.

The sad thing about this entire situation was that it was required for anyone who wanted to get to the routes and towns on the other side. This state of required travel made the entire place even worse. Still, Will would get through it all soon enough. He just hoped that it would be before nightfall. If it was this bad during the day, then he didn't want to know what it was like during the night.

"Excuse me young man, but could you spare me a moment of your time. I need your help with something." An old woman's voice said, causing Will to almost run off in fear. Still, he turned around and found that was, in fact, all it was.

"Please, please don't do that again. I'm creeped out by this place as it is, I don't need people sneaking up on me." He said, grabbing at his chest as he felt his heart racing.

"Oh, I'm sorry young man. I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that, well, some of the Pokemon have been acting up around here lately and well, you're the only person I've seen here in a while. The name is Elizabeth by the way." The old woman said as Will regained his normal heartrate.

"Well, nice to meet you Elizabeth. I'd love to help you with your problem, but I would really like to get out of here as soon as possible. But tell you what. If I run into Officer Jenny I'll let her know there is some trouble here and they'll send someone to investigate, alright?" He said, not wanting to get involved with the troubles of Pokemon.

The woman's face dropped in sadness before she started shaking her head.

"Oh dear, I'm afraid that won't do. You see, I can't really get Officer Jenny here to help me in time. It has to be you I'm afraid. And if you aren't willing to cooperate then I guess I just have to force you."

Will didn't like the sound of that, and the subsequent mass of red eyes that appeared in the forest around them didn't help things out. He started to back up, but he found himself bumping up against a green-moon shaped thing.

"Metapod" is all it said, but it was enough to startle Will. Soon it was being revealed what the various red eyes were; they were the eyes of the Bug Pokemon that inhabited the forest.

"Who in the world are you?" Will asked the woman, knowing full well that most people are not able to summon entire flocks of Bug Pokemon to their side.

"Oh, just a friend of the forest, that's all. Now then, are you willing to cooperate with us, or are we going to have to make your permanent residence these woods. And I can guarantee you that this will not be a pleasant residence."

Will couldn't help but drop his jaw a little at this. Here was, in the middle of Darkroot Forest, being threatened by an old lady. Then again, the old lady had a giant swarm of Bug Pokemon she could sick on him at any moment. This was definitely not how he had planned this trip to go. Sadly, there wasn't much choice in what to do.

"Fine, I'll do it." He said, before proceeding to slump his shoulders in defeat.

The old woman's face gained a giant grin at that reply.

"Oh thank you young man. You make an old woman feel happy. But don't you dare think I'll be letting you do this empty handed. Ooh Nincada, would you come here for a moment?"

A small, white-shelled Pokemon stepped out of the crowd of Pokemon, it's brown claws slowly clicking as it walked.

"Would you mind helping this young man out as he goes to help calm those Pokemon down?" She asked the Pokemon, who nodded a yes, "Splendid. Will, this is Nincada. I'll be sending him to help you on your mission."

"Oh no madam, I couldn't. I already have two Pokemon with me, and I couldn't take one of yours. I think I should be…"

The Bug Pokemon started buzzing, and Richard took it as a sign that he should shut up now.

"On second thought, it wouldn't hurt at all to have some help. Come on Nincada, let's go see what the problem is." He said as he left the gathering, the Bug Pokemon following right behind him.

As he walked Will kept wondering why things like this happened to him. First there were those weird people who attacked his grandpa's lab, then the Pidgey attacking them, and now he was being threatened by an old lady to help solve some problem. What was next? Solving a murder? Being kidnapped? Stumbling into some conspiracy to end the world as we knew it (he had read plenty of stories about that sort of thing happening in the other regions)?

His train of thought was broken by the sound of what seemed like a hum of some sort. It wasn't the kind that you would expect from some Bug Pokemon, but from some kind of machine. And with this being a forest and all, machines were not common sights. Something was up, that was for sure.

He started walking in the direction of the hum, and soon he could see what looked like lights of some sort. There was also some kind of aroma in the air, something delightful that reminded him of the move Sweet Scent. If it weren't for the fact it seemed to be coming from the area of the machine it would seem fine.

"What in the world is going on here?" Will whispered to himself as he hid behind a tree, peeking onto the scene before him. Before him were two people; a man and a woman. Both of them had white hair, and all of their clothes were black as well. He had seen them before, or at least similar people. They had to be with in leagues with the same people who attacked his grandpa's lab. But what were they doing here? There wasn't much time for him to think as they soon headed in his direction, forcing him to duck for even more cover.

"This sure is a boring job, don't you think? I mean come on. Why would the boss want to round up all of these Gastly for? There are better places to catch wild Ghost Pokemon like that Pokemon Tower place. They're much stronger there too anyway." The man said.

"It doesn't matter why he wants them so stop asking about that. Besides, everyone knows Pokemon trained by trainers are stronger than wild Pokemon. The earlier you start the better." The woman said.

_So, they want to capture a bunch of Gastly for some reason. But if that's true, where are the…_

A hand on his shoulder interrupted Richard's thoughts, and soon he was looking at the face of the man. A weak laugh escaped Will's mouth, and in a moment he was thrown right into the spotlight, so to speak. A Sneasel was standing right beside the man, a Houndour beside the woman.

"You know it's not safe for little kids like you to be snooping around you know. You might get hurt. It's not unknown for wild Pokemon to attack humans. But don't worry, we'll let the cops know we did everything we could to save you." The man said, and soon the two Pokemon lunged right at Richard, claws ready to slice him up to pieces.

For some reason though the attack never came. Will, who had his arm up in front of him for protection, looked up to find that Nincada had knocked them out of his way and was facing them down. Seeing the chance, Will sent out Pidgey and Squirtle, who were soon ready to face them down.

"Aah, three against two isn't fair. Why don't we even the odds. Or at least place them in our favor." The woman hit a switch on the machine, and soon a swarm of Gastly arrived on the scene. And none of Richard's Pokemon knew attacks that could hurt Ghost Pokemon. Still, he couldn't give up yet.

"Nin nin nincada." The Bug Pokemon said, motioning in the direction of the Gastly. Will thought it meant something along the line of "I'll take care of them", and he nodded. Nincada ran off, and the Sneasel and Houndour would have followed if Squirtle and Pidgey didn't jump in the way.

"You're going to have to deal with me first." Will said, finally back on his feet. In the corner of his eye he could see Nincada firing off what looked like Leech Life at the Gastlys, but he knew the Pokemon couldn't hold them off for long. That machine had to be destroyed as soon as possible.

"Squirtle, use Tackle on the Sneasel while Pidgey provides cover with Sand Attack." Will ordered. Pidgey started to flap her wings (Will had checked the data the morning after the capture and found out the Pidgey was female), creating a small dust and leaf cloud. It provided some cover, and Squirtle ran right into it as the Sneasel closed it's eyes. The Houndour went in after Squirtle, but Will ordered Pidgey to intervene. Soon both of the enemy were hit with a Tackle attack, but apparently it didn't seem enough to put them down.

"So punk, think a simple Tackle attack can stop us? Sneasel, use Quick Attack and get rid of the bird." The man commanded

"And Houndour, use Ember to get rid of that brat." The woman ordered.

The order's given, the two Dark types proceeded to follow them through. Sneasel disappeared from sight for a second or two before giving Pidgey a swipe of its claw. Pidgey went down, but was back up soon enough. The two began to tangle a for a bit, but Will had to worry about something else. There was a flame heading right at him, and the only place to run would be right into a field of Gastly. That was until a stream of high-powered bubbles broke right through the Ember attack.

"Squirtle?" Will asked, and the turtle Pokemon replied with a wink and a thumbs up.

"Squirtle squirt." He said, and Will took it to mean "No problem." Smiling, Will turned his attention onto the Sneasel and Houndour. The battle had moved them into a position right in front of the machine, and he thought of a way to end this all in one shot.

"Pidgey, land on that machine. Squirtle, use Bubble on it afterwards."

The man knew what was going on, and tried to order the Sneasel to stop. Sadly for them, it didn't. Pidgey had proved to be a very evasive opponent, and it drove the Dark type into a rage. It was clawing madly at the bird Pokemon, and when Pidgey landed on the machine Sneasel swiped right through it to get her, exposing the wires. Adding in Squirtle's Bubble attack lead to a nice sized blast, finishing the two opponents off. Pidgey had flown off in time to avoid it, but he had her returned anyway to prevent further damage.

Over on Nincada's side of the battle, the Bug type had finally ran out of Leech Life and was attempting to fight them off claw-to-gas. It was brave effort, but had no effect. Luckily, the machine's destruction had prevented the poor Bug Pokemon from getting too injured, but it was still in bad shape. Richard started to run over to it, but the man grabbed him by the collar.

"That's it punk, I'm going to take care of you personally." The man said. Before he could do anything, however, he tensed up and fell to the ground. Will looked to see what happened, and he had to give a grin.

"So, look who finally showed up to provide me some backup." Will said to the old woman, who was standing right behind where the man was standing.

"Well, once we saw that explosion we thought it best to come and help with any cleanup." The woman said as the swarm of Bug Pokemon came from behind her.

"Thank you for the assistance, and as promised we won't keep you here forever. The exit is right behind you. As for these two, I believe we are going to be having a lot of fun with them." The woman said as she laughed.

Soon she, the swarm of Bug Pokemon, and the Gastly began to leave. Before she was out of Will's sight, however, she just faded away. Will, Squirtle, and Pidgey stood there wide-eyed while Nincada just waved goodbye.

"Squirtle, Pidgey. Promise me we will never, ever come back to these woods if we can help it." Will asked his two Pokemon.

* * *

"Sir, it seems the plan to recruit a large mass of Gastly did not go according to plan. Professor Isaac's grandson was in the area, and he apparently destroyed the machine we were using to draw them in."

"It's of no concern. We do have plenty of Pokemon anyway. They would have made a nice addition to our organization, and would have made some of our plans easier. But it is of no concern. It is just a small setback.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Well, that was a fun chapter. We had dark forest, evil old ladies, and more from that mysterious organization. Anyways, there is no Pokemon poll this time around as I think we got enough for now. Instead, I have this one;

1. Do you think Will needs a traveling companion? Yes/No  
2. If yes, male or female?  
3. If yes/female, should she become a love interest?


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **I apologize for the delay in this chapter. New semester at school means new classes, new homeworks, and a research project *sighs*. That is now all out of the way though. Now it's back to the old routine. Sort of.

From this point forward this fic is being co-written by a friend of mine, Live Like Music. A while back some other people and I helped with a Digimon fic that sadly died off. She's asked me to help her with another one, and in return she's helping me with this. While that means there will be more time in between updates, quality (and as you can see length) will increase.

Speaking of co-writing, I've been meaning to say this. Those of you who send me character profiles for people to use in the fic, I appreciate it the attention and attempts to help. But, with the exception of Bella (Live's person), I don't like using other people's characters. It's nothing personal, I just don't like it. Heck, only reason I'm using Bella is because Live is helping me write. Otherwise...okay I'd probably still use her. But I'd have nagged her about Bella often enough she would have still been co-writing. Anyway, onto the point. Again, appreciate the attempts to help, but please don't send them in unless I ask for assistance, deal?

* * *

"It's good to see the sunshine again," Will commented as he took his first steps out of Darkroot Forest.

After the encounter with what he was pretty sure was a ghost in those dark, claustrophobic woods, he desperately wanted to be out in the open with some sunlight. And Greenway Valley was just what the doctor ordered. The route was dominated by a giant hill, with a dirt path that went right over it. From the top one could get a perfect view of the surrounding area, and the nearby town of Verdeville, otherwise known as the place where the first gym of the region was located.

Will was filled with excitement, glad to be so close to his goal. Normally his partner Squirtle would share in his joy, but right now the turtle Pokémon was safe and sound in a Pokeball to rest up. So that meant Will was by himself, but he didn't mind. Soon they would reach Verdeville and win that badge. First, however, they had to get through Greenway Valley.

He took more steps forward as the light from the sun cascaded brightly across his body. He used one of his hands as a visor to stop the sunlight from reaching his eyes, and moved his gaze across the landscape. It was a very pretty part of the region. It seemed calm enough, too.

A sudden rustle in the bushes caught his attention, sending a ripple of fear – or was it excitement? – down his spine. Another Pokémon? He was about to find out. A smirk crept across his face, and he began his slow trek toward the undergrowth, inching forward as slow as he could so he wouldn't scare the Pokémon away. If it was a Pokémon, surely he would not let it get away. The bushes rustled again, and he froze.

"Oh, it's _so_ cute!"

That definitely was not the voice of a Pokémon. The sound of it made Will's brow furrow. But he didn't even have time to think or call out a hello before a tiny Pichu dashed out of the forest like mad, leaves stuck in its fur. He blinked at the comical look the electric mouse had on its face, and suddenly another shape shot from the undergrowth like a furry bullet.

He recognized the shape of this Pokémon, but its coloring was unfamiliar. The mammalian creature had ghostly-pale grey-blue fur that was nearly white, a collar-like mane of white fur, and a bushy white-tipped tail. As it gave chase to the Pichu, the Pokémon's eyes turned and glimpsed at Richard.

He sucked in a sharp breath, and he almost seemed immobilized by the big blue eyes that the Pokémon possessed. An Eevee! He released his breath when the shiny Pokemon turned his attention back to the Pichu, his grey body now shimmering in a cloak of sparkles. The Eevee kicked up his paws and ran faster than Richard had ever seen, leaving a stream of light behind it.

More movement from the bushes caught his attention and he turned, staring in wonder as a girl around his age stumbled from them. Richard froze, and the girl blinked at him with a warm curiosity as she noticed him, sending him a soft smile.

Again, she was young, around his age. She had flowing, chocolate brown hair that cascaded just below her shoulder-blades and side-bangs that swept into her icy-blue eyes. She wore faded blue skinny jeans, a white tank top with a dressy, black vest over it, and a light grey scarf around her neck.

Will had to hold back a laugh when the wind ruffled around the girl, making her black newsboy cap slide down her head to cover her eyes. He smiled, amused, when he heard her annoyed mutters and pushed the hat back up to its proper place on her head.

Her eyes caught his briefly before she ducked down to dig through the dull-yellow pack that she carried. Pulling her hand out, the sunlight glinted on the Pokeball that she held grasped in her hand. She took a ginger step forward, her focus now completely on the shiny Eevee and the Pichu that he was attacking.

Will turned just in time to see the shiny Eevee ram into the Pichu using its Quick Attack. The electric mouse fell to the ground with a squeak, and it tried to struggle to its paws, failing miserably. The Eevee crouched over the Pichu triumphantly, making sure that it did not run away again.

The girl used her free hand to tug her hat tighter down on her head, before tossing the Pokeball at the Pichu. "Go!" The ball sailed through the air, and the Eevee took a tentative step backward as the ball came closer.

Will watched intently as the capturing device bounced off of the Pichu and opened, sucking the mouse inside of it. The ball fell softly to the ground, swaying back and forth as the Pokémon inside struggled to break free. And just as he thought it was captured, the Pichu broke out of the Pokeball and dashed back into the forest before anyone could blink.

Will noticed that the girl's face had dropped into a frown. He inched forward a step to try and comfort her, since no trainer likes to lose a Pokémon like that. He stopped though as he heard her mumble something.

"Oh, I wanted that Pichu. He was so cute."

Will had to choke back a small laugh at the comment. Out of all the possible reasons to be sad about not catching a Pokemon, he didn't expect cuteness to be a factor. The girl gave him a quick glance before she noticed that the Eevee had returned, apparently to comfort her. She picked up the grey-furred Pokemon, who proceeded to lick her face.

"Don't worry about it Eevee, you did your best. I'm sure we'll catch that Pichu next time."

The two of them just continued talking about the Pichu for a moment before the girl realized that Richard was still there. Her depression seemed to melt away instantly, and soon there was a sense of enthusiasm surrounding her as she started talking.

"Hi there. My name is Bella and this is my partner Eevee. Sorry for ignoring you for a moment, but I really wanted to catch that Pichu. I'm sure as a trainer you understand that happens sometimes."

"Uh, yeah, I guess so. It's no problem at all," Will said as he rubbed the back of his head. He never was really good at people skills, whether he was talking with girls or other guys. Looking down at his belt he remembered Squirtle's existence.

"Anyway, my name's Will, and this…"

He pulled out the Pokeball, and with a flash of red light the turtle-like Pokemon was out… sleeping like a rock. Will felt a sense of embarrassment at the scene, but continued talking anyway.

"This is my partner Squirtle. He's a bit tired. We just got out of the woods and…" Glancing up from the sleeping Pokemon, he noticed that Bella wasn't to be found. Her Eevee was still there, obviously annoyed by something. Following his eyes, Will located the girl.

"He's adorable Will, and he looks pretty fit too. His shell looks like it's in good shape and everything," She said, eyes twinkling with delight and enthusiasm.

"Thanks. I just got him the other day from my grandpa, Professor Isaac," He replied, not really sure if she was paying attention to him.

"You're a new trainer then?" Bella asked, looking up from his sleeping Squirtle to gaze at him. Her eyes twinkled playfully. "So am I. But... I don't come from Perslas. I started my journey in Kanto, but we were relocated to here because of my dad's job."

Will blinked in surprise, crouching down to scoop up his sleeping Squirtle in his arms, and to become eye level with the other trainer. "Really?" he murmured. "I never heard of that happening to a trainer before."

Bella shrugged as she stood up, and Richard quickly mimicked her movements. "I actually had the choice to continue my journey in Kanto, while my parents moved here," she said. "But I wanted to stay close to my parents. And so did Eevee, I think." She glanced down at her Pokémon. "My Eevee actually was hatched from an egg that my father's shiny Vaporeon laid."

"Sounds like a good reason to me." Will commented, not really to sure what to say after that. He just stood there for a moment, embarrassed by the awkward silence that they were in.

"So then, have you caught any other Pokemon, or is Eevee your only one?" Will asked, hoping getting to such a comfortable topic would break the awkwardness.

Bella started to frown a little bit, looking down at the ground like she was a bit ashamed. She shook her head, responding with a, "no, not yet." She quickly bounced back and she turned in the direction the Pichu had run earlier.

"But as soon as I can find that Pichu I guarantee you that I'll have another one," She said with a grin, looking as if she couldn't wait to get started on the hunt. Will saw this enthusiasm, and since he didn't have anything else to do, he decided to offer to help the girl. Besides, her excitement was a bit contagious.

"Well, I have a Pidgey and a Nincada with me, along with Squirtle. I'm not in any rush or anything, so maybe I could help you out?" He said, shifting Squirtle around a bit as his arms were getting a bit tired of holding him.

"That would be great! Eevee and I will go this way, and you and your Pokemon can go that way," She said as she started running in the same direction Pichu had gone.

"Come on Eevee, let's find that Pichu before he gets too far away," She called. Eevee quickly glanced up at Will before running off. The look on the Pokemon's face wasn't that friendly, and Will had a feeling he didn't like him much.

"Well, I guess I better get started. Squirtle, Squirtle," Will said as he lightly tapped the Pokemon, hoping to wake him up. Soon Squirtle's large eyes began to slowly open, and after a quick yawn, he started to eye the surrounding environment, a bit confused.

"I guess you were expecting a town, right? Well, I just met this girl chasing a Pichu and I offered to help. You can either help to or go back to sleep," he told his partner as he set him back on the ground. For a moment Squirtle just stood there, obviously thinking about his choice. Eventually he stopped, and with his version of a thumbs up. It was set. They were going to help Bella get that Pichu.

"Alright then, if Pichu ran that way, then we should start over here…" Will started to mumble as he and Squirtle started to explore the surrounding area.

----------------------------------------

Meanwhile, there was another searching for this same Pichu. It was an older, scruffier man. He was wearing a vest with several Pokeballs attached to it, a pair of blue jeans, and a white T-shirt. At the moment he had a Pokedex out, searching the area for any signs of the Pokemon.

"According to that tracker I got on the little guy last time, he should be in this area. Just hope no one else finds him first; got a lot of money on the line here."

----------------------------------------

"Let's see... Let's see," Bella mumbled as she ducked her head to crawl through the underbrush. "It's got to be around here somewhere. I mean, really – how hard can it be to find one little Pichu?" A sharp branch jabbed into her side, making her wince. "Okay, ow. I guess it is pretty hard."

She stood up and brushed the sweat off of her forehead using the back of her hand. She sighed dejectedly._ If only I hadn't stopped to look at Richard, she thought to herself. If I had only concentrated more, I'm sure I could have caught it. I could have talked to Will afterward, anyway._ Her smile brightened. _Oh well! Will is nice._

"Uree?" Eevee looked up at the floatly expression that his trainer had on her face, confused and a bit angry. Weren't they supposed to be looking for that Pichu? And anyway, he wasn't quite sure about Will yet - if he liked or disliked him. But he was guessing that they would be spending quite a bit of time with him, until they reached the next town that is.

"Oh! Uh, um... Let's keep looking, shall we?" Her expression changed from dazed to determined in less than a second. "I'm not leaving this forest without that Pichu!" She looked down at Eevee. "Right, buddy?"

"Uraa!"

"Good." She smiled happily down at her shiny Pokemon. She began to hum a happy tune as she walked backward through the forest. And that was the thing about Bella, she was such a bit of an airhead that she didn't care - or realize - that it was dangerous to do that. Especially if you bump into something, or someone, for that matter. And that's exactly what she did.

"Oof!" She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, her eyes clamping shut as she tried to process what just happened. "I'm so sorry," she apologized profusely as she opened her eyes and turned around, "I wasn't watching where I was go..." She gasped.

"Oh, sorry for that. I was a bit distracted by the flowers," a young woman's voice said in reply. She was wearing a long, blue dress with a pink edge on the bottom. Her shoes were a pair of white dress tennis shoes. Her hair was blond and went all the way down to her mid-back. Nearby there was a pail with a Pokeball and some flowers inside it.

"No, no, it's my fault. I've been looking for a Pichu all day and…" Bella started to respond before the woman interrupted.

"A Pichu? Hmm, that's odd. There aren't any Pichu in these parts. You have to go past Amarillo City before you even get the chance to see one. I hope something didn't happen there?" she asked with a look of concern on her face.

"Anyway, never mind that now. I hope you have good luck catching it. Probably won't help you a whole lot in the next town though. The gym leader uses grass types there."

Bella let out a small laugh at the response. She wasn't trying to be mean or anything, but the idea wasn't even on her mind. "Oh I don't have to worry about that. I'm working on becoming the best coordinator in the region."

The woman took it in good stride as she met Bella's laugh. "Well then, I guess you won't have to worry about the Gym at all. But I'm sure that Pichu will help you with those contests. There such an adorable Pokémon and can pack a punch if trained right." The woman glanced at the sky, a look of concern appearing on her face.

"I should probably get going soon. I have some people I needed to meet with up in Verdeville. Please stop by and visit if you get the chance. Just ask around for Florence. I can guarantee you that you'll find someone who knows me."

With that the young woman started to leave, but a rumbling in the nearby bushes forced her and Bella to pay attention. The next thing either of them knew, a Pichu dashed out of the bushes with a look of fright dominating its face. Bella was about to go after it when the ground began to shake. The next thing they both knew a giant wall of rock appeared, or so at least that was what they thought. Within seconds rocks roared, and they both knew this was an Onix.

"Alright then Onix, let's get that Pichu and get out of here. I'm getting bored of this job already," a man said as he appeared from the bushes, apparently unaware of Bella and Florence's presence. He looked up, and a look of annoyed disgust appeared on his face.

"Sorry if I was interrupting you two ladies, but I need to get through. I need to catch that Pichu that just ran by here."

"Why should I?" Bella demanded as Eevee crouched low to the ground in front of her feet, protectively, fangs bared and growling. "I saw that Pichu first! I've been chasing it all day, its mine!" She folded her arms across her chest and tapped her foot on the ground, her expression as if she was scolding a small child.

The man snorted. "Yeah right, hun. That Pichu is mine and you know it." A cruel smirk appeared on his face as he noticed the shiny Eevee standing in front of her. "And we both know that if it came to a battle other that puny thing that I would win. There's no way your Eevee could stand up to my Onix."

Eevee snarled angrily, its fur standing on end all over its body. How dare that jerk just assume that!

"Don't just assume that!" Bella protested, her eyes narrowing into a glare. She glanced at her Pokémon and briefly met his angered gaze. "Eevee and I have been working really hard – we're strong enough to beat you." _I think…_

"Really now?" the man asked mockingly, raising an eyebrow. He motioned to his Onix. "Would you like to test that theory, brat?"

Bella ground her teeth together, she was sure there were a silent threat thrown in there somewhere. She got herself into this mess, was there a way to get herself out? She gasped when Eevee growled at her feet again, and launched himself into the air, star-shapes shooting out of his mouth and aiming toward the Onix's face. "No! I didn't say attack!" she exclaimed, fear shooting through her body like a bolt of lightning. She buried her face in her hands, groaning. "And with Swift, nonetheless…"

"Onix, use Iron Tail!"

On the other side of the forest, Will's head shot up suddenly, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. He turned and looked down at his Squirtle, his gaze questioning and worried. "Did you hear that, Squirtle?"

The tiny turtle Pokémon looked up at him in wonder, scratching his head in confusion. "Squirt?"

"I think something is going on, and it doesn't sound good. I think we should try and find Bella," Will said as he scooped up Squirtle, deciding the two of them could move faster with Squirtle being carried.

Meanwhile, back on the battle scene, Eevee found himself being sent flying by the Onix's Iron Tail attack. He hit the ground hard, but, in an impressive show of either stubbornness or determination, he proceeded to stand back up. One could tell he was pretty shaken up, and his knees were a bit shaky, but he was still ready to fight.

"You got quite a tough Eevee there. Normally my opponents don't get up after one of Onix's Iron Tail attacks."

Bella had to smile a little bit at the complement, even if it came from the likes of this guy. She had a feeling he really didn't want that Pichu for himself. That mentioning of a 'job' was what made her suspicious. She refused to give up that Pichu to this man. But looking down at Eevee, who looked like he could barely stand, she knew that things weren't going well. Her stomach felt like it was all knotted up with all the tension in the air.

"All right, I'm getting real tired of this. Sir, I don't care if you've spent an entire week chasing that Pichu. It's obvious to me that you don't care about it like a true trainer should. If I have any say in it then…" Florence began speaking just like a mother talking to an unruly child.

"What makes you think you have any say in it at all?" The man asked, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes in annoyance. His Onix was watching the entire scene quietly, waiting for his master's orders.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to show you why I have a say in it. Roserade, let's show this man how a true trainer and Pokemon do battle."

With that, Florence pulled out the Pokeball from her pail, and with a flourish she released the Pokemon from within. Roserade appeared with its flowery appendages already out and ready to fight. Bella had to admit the Pokemon was quite stunning, if not of her own personal taste. Still, she was glad that Eevee didn't have to fight this battle anymore. She returned the injured Pokemon to his Pokeball, holding it for a second to tell him "Sorry" before storing it away safely.

The man raised an eyebrow at the appearance of the Roserade, but it looked as if he was still going to fight.

"Humph, your flower doesn't scare Onix or me. Onix, crush it with a Rock Tomb attack."

The Onix proceeded to smash up the ground beneath him before sending them flying towards Roserade. The grass Pokemon, however, took advantage of his small size to swiftly navigate around the boulders, almost as if he was dancing.

"Alright Roserade, bring down that rock down to size with an Energy Ball attack," Florence commanded.

Placing the petals that were his hands before him, Roserade gathered a green-tinted orb of energy before launching it at Onix. Unlike Roserade, Onix was unable to navigate around the ball successfully and his hit in the midsection. The giant rock Pokemon looked injured, but he still had some fight in him.

"Onix, use your massive size and Tackle that plant," the man ordered.

Soon the ground began to shake as the Onix rampaged towards Roserade. Bella had dash to the side to avoid getting hit, but Florence and Roserade stood firm. Bella swore she saw a smirk appear on Florence's face as she gave the next order.

"Roserade, use Grass Knot to finish this up."

Roserade nodded in compliance, and soon shoots of green vines were sent flying straight towards Onix, or at least towards the ground. All the trainers present knew what was about to happen next, but with his massive size and speed Onix just had too much momentum to stop. Soon Onix found himself being tripped and snared by the vines, his own massive size bringing him down quickly. He was out for the count.

"Well then, I believe that should do it, or would you like to bring out another Pokemon to battle?" Florence asked, a small laugh coming out at the end to show she was filled with excitement. The man just stood there, almost as if he couldn't believe his Onix could be taken down so easily. For a moment he stepped forward aggressively, looking as if he was going to protest. Instead, he backed off and returned his Onix to his Pokeball. He gave an angry glare at Florence and Bella before he stormed off.

"I will get back at you two for this, I can guarantee it." He yelled out before disappearing.

Bella looked down at her feet as she cradled her Eevee's Pokeball to her chest gently, guilt and sorrow in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "If I had been able to control my Eevee better you wouldn't have been pulled into this mess." She sighed. "Or if I had caught that Pichu earlier…"

Florence placed a gentle hand on Bella's shoulder, making her look up. "This wasn't your fault," she reprimanded. "This wasn't anyone's fault. Well, if it was anyone's fault it would have been that bounty hunter's. What a sick man, capturing Pokémon to sell as an occupation."

The younger girl sighed, looking dejected. "I suppose so…" she murmured, her voice trailing off as a rustle in the bushes made her body freeze. Her gaze snapped over to Florence's. Was the bounty hunter coming for his revenge already so soon? Her heart sped up as she stared at the swishing undergrowth through narrowed eyes.

"Oh my!" Florence exclaimed softly as the small Pichu stumbled out of the bushes, looking dazed. She turned and smiled at Bella, who was staring at the small electric mouse as if it had grown two heads. "Well, I think now is the time to catch the little guy, am I right?"

"But – but my Eevee-"

"Should still have enough energy left to help you capture him," she answered, before Bella could protest that her Eevee did not have the strength at the moment. "It's only a baby Pokemon. Your Eevee shouldn't have any trouble making it weak enough to capture with a Pokeball."

"…Alright," Bella quietly agreed, as she gently moved her Eevee's ball to roll around on her fingertips, gently pressing the button to enlarge it. Very quickly, she tossed the Pokeball into the air, effectively opening it. "Let's go, Eevee, and try this one last time."

As Eevee was released from his confinement, he stumbled as he reached the ground, still obviously tired from his short battle with the Onix. As he regained his footing, he set his gaze on the tiny Pichu, blinking in a confused manner, before realizing what was happening. It was his last chance to help Bella capture the Pichu. And he wouldn't let her down.

"Okay," Bella began as the Pichu finally noticed them, looking like a deer in headlights. "Let's use Bite, since I know it already outran you before." Eevee grunted, not happy about her bringing that up. "It wasn't your fault then, let's just get it now, okay?"

Eevee growled a little bit in response before turning his attention to Pichu. The electric mouse Pokemon wasn't running away at this point, instead eyeing the group with intense curiosity. Eevee moved himself down to the ground, ready to push himself straight towards with intense speed. What happened next cause Eevee to freeze with surprise.

Instead of running away like last time, the Pichu walked right up to Bella. He looked up at her with his big eyes, and began to randomly talk with combinations of the word "Pichu". Bella had to arch an eyebrow in confusion. She looked up when she heard a giggle erupt from Florence.

"I think that Pichu likes you Bella, and it looks like he wants to join up with you. Guess it was a good thing you saved it from that bounty hunter, huh?"

Bella squatted down to Pichu's eye level. "Is that true Pichu, do you want to come with me?"

"Pi pichu," The Pokémon replied, pointing towards one of Bella's Pokeballs. It would be an understatement to say that Bella was glad, and she quickly pulled out one of the Pokeballs. Pressing the button and enlarging it, she handed it over to Pichu. He proceeded to press the button again, and was quickly engulfed by the red light. A moment latter Bella let out a shout of joy as the ball finally stopped twitching. Grabbing it, she secured it on her person before moving on to Eevee.

"Sorry you didn't get to battle it Eevee. But don't worry, you'll get to battle the next Pokemon we get to go after for sure," she said as she scooped up the saddened Pokemon, running her hands through his fur.

"Well then, now I believe I can head home. Hope to see you again soon Bella. Take good care of that Pichu," Florence said as she picked up her pail.

"Don't worry, I'll stop by and visit sometime before I leave Verdeville," Bella replied as the young woman left, leaving her and Eevee by themselves. Looking up at the sky, she noticed that the sun was starting to get close to the horizon.

Will still hadn't gotten back yet, and she was starting to worry a little. Just then she heard the sounds of footsteps nearby, and braced herself for the bounty hunter's return. When a Squirtle's head popped out from behind a tree she felt a sense of relief. A moment later Richard appeared, unaware she was there.

"Will, over here. I finally caught that Pichu," She said, his head twisting around for a moment before finally noticing her.

"There you are, Bella. I was getting worried. I thought I heard a battle going on earlier and…okay, what happened here?" Will asked as he got closer, stopping when he noticed the broken trees and pushed up dirt that marked the battlefield.

"Uh, well, Eevee and I were trying to find the Pichu when we ran into this woman named Florence," Bella noticed Wills eyebrows arch a bit when she said that, but she kept on going.

"I talked to her for a bit, but just as we were about to part ways some man arrived with an Onix. He was also after the Pichu, so naturally I had to battle him. It, um, didn't end real well," Bella said with some hesitation, noticing Eevee glaring at her a bit. Bella had to laugh a little at how emotional he got about battles, though she didn't have much room to talk.

"Anyway, after that Florence sent out a Roserade. The two of them took down that Onix with no problems whatsoever. You should have seen it. It was just awesome. After that Pichu arrived, and while I did send Eevee to battle him, he decided to join me by choice. Overall it was a pretty good day," She exclaimed quickly, sounding out of breath.

Will listened to the entire story, trying to keep a straight face. If it weren't for the fact that she was new to the region, he would have scolded her for not knowing who Florence was. Instead, he would be nice about it and fill her in.

"Well, doesn't surprise me Florence was that good. She is the gym leader of Verdeville after all," He remarked with a bit of a smile.

"Wait, what? You got to be kidding me. She's a gym leader? Wonder why she didn't tell me when I was talking to her?" Bella said with a rush. Will just laughed a little bit.

"Probably thought you already knew it. Besides, I hear she's pretty humble about her position anyway," Will replied. Both of them knew that sunset, and therefore evening, was coming soon. If they didn't make it to Verdeville soon they would have to spend the night out in the wilderness.

"So then, since we're heading in the same direction anyway, mind if Squirtle and I tag along?" Will asked, trying to be nonchalant about it.

"I don't mind at all. It would be nice have some company, at least for a little while." Bella replied, before getting the feeling someone was staring at her. Looking down she found that Eevee was the culprit, looking as if he wanted to say something along the line of "Did you forget something?"

"Not that you don't make excellent company Eevee." Bella apologized quickly. Content with Bella remembering his existence, he settled down in her arms for a nap.

"Well then, I guess we better get started then," Bella said before starting to walk in the direction of the town. Will didn't say anything in reply, as there wasn't much else to say at that point. The only thing to do was try to keep up behind the energetic Bella as they made there way out of the hills and towards town.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Hi everyone, this is Live (Live Like Music.) doing the author's note instead of Demi (Whamman5) this time! I begged him for me to be able to do the author's note that the beginning because I need to explain some things before you get off to start reading this new chapter. First off, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter (if anyone did at all O.o ). It was appreciated.

I'm sure you might have noticed that this is a bit earlier of an update than most that Demi has probably done before. Well, there's a reason for that. Every two weeks, for two weeks, my Film class at school changes over to a Creative Writing class. During those two weeks (and more, most of the time) I will be unable to collaborate with Demi to produce the next chapter in a timely manner.

It takes time to write, and I have a lot to do in school for my story. So for probably the next three to four weeks, there will be no update whatsoever. That's why we started writing this chapter so soon. I wanted this done before I would be booked up for god knows how long before we could update again. So, please don't expect another update for a while, and I apologize in advance for the delay.

Lastly… Please read and review! I hope you enjoy chapter five of The Perslas Region!

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As the sun began to set under the horizon, the small group of companions finally arrived in the small town of Verdeville. The aroma of fresh flowers was everywhere, and it wasn't hard to see why.

"I don't think I've ever seen this many flowers in my entire life," Bella said with an excited gasp as she eyed the surrounding scenery. Almost every inch of the town was covered in a wide range of colorful flowers. They grew on the side of the road, beside the houses, and even on a few roofs.

"Guess I should have told you that Verdeville is famous for its flowers." Richard said as he walked up next to Bella, taking a moment to glance at the view himself. While he wasn't as excited as Bella since he wasn't much of a flower person, he had to admit it was quite a sight. The amount of dedication that it took to grow all of these flowers was impressive, to say the least.

Seeing as the sun was on the way to be set, both of them knew that they had to get moving. There would be plenty of time to admire the view tomorrow once they both had a good night's sleep and their Pokémon healed. Luckily enough, the Pokémon Center was not that far away. It only took a few minutes before the comforting 'ring' of the electric doors welcomed the two of them in.

"Oh, good evening. We weren't expecting any trainers to arrive this late." Nurse Joy said from behind the counter as she turned around from whatever work she was doing.

"We were a bit delayed in getting here. Some bounty hunter was after this Pokémon and…" Bella started to explain, though she was soon interrupted by a gasp from the nurse.

"Oh, how terrible! What kind of person would hunt Pokémon for money? Well, I hope you two were able to take care of him. Come, come! I'll get Chansey to take your Pokémon to the back to get some rest," Nurse Joy said as she pressed a button, probably an alert to let Chansey know there were some new patients.

"Actually, Florence took care of the guy for us." Will said as both Bella and he took out their Pokeballs.

"Oh, that must have been exciting for you two. And gives you a taste of what you're going to have to face at the gym," Nurse Joy said with a smile as she took the red and white spheres. By this point the pink Pokémon that was Chansey had arrived, carrying a small tray for the Pokeballs. Nurse Joy handed them over to Chansey, who soon headed into the back.

"Well, I was, uh, not there," Richard said, a bit saddened that he didn't get to see the gym leader in action.

"And I'm going to be a coordinator. Good thing too. Even though I bet my Eevee and Pichu can take her, it would be a pretty tough battle," Bella replied.

Will's eyes widened in surprise, and stared at Bella as if he was seeing her for the first time. "You're a coordinator?" he questioned with interest. He tried to not show it, but on the inside he was relieved, he wouldn't have to worry about her being his rival in the long run at the Pokémon League.

"Uh, yeah," Bella replied absentmindedly as her head turned to and fro as if she was looking for something. Her eyes brightened considerably when her gaze landed on the video-phone in the corner of the Pokémon Center's lobby. "There!"

She quickly rushed over to the phone, lifting the earpiece to her head and cradling it with her shoulder as she punched in a familiar number to the keypad. Will approached more slowly, shyly peering over his overexcited friend's shoulder as the screen turned to static, showing that the line was ringing. Suddenly, an unfamiliar face popped up onto the screen.

"Hello?"

"Taro?" Bella exclaimed in surprise as she peered closer at the screen to get a better look at the dark haired teen. Her expression instantly became irked, and she nearly pressed her face against the screen. "Aren't you supposed to be at university in Kanto? Why are you in Perslas?"

On the screen, Taro grunted and shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I heard that my baby sister was here travelling around as a Pokémon trainer," he said, smirking. "I needed to check that out for myself."

Bella stomped her foot on the ground, looking upset, and Will took a step back. "Why do you always tease me?" she huffed. "Its not my fault you decided you didn't want to be a trainer, and then regretted it!"

Bella's brother spotted Will's backward movement and his eyes narrowed suspiciously – and not to mention dangerously, too! Bella laughed nervously as she caught onto what he had seen. "Who was that kid?!" Taro demanded, sounding angry. "I never said you could hang out with guys yet!"

The dark haired girl twirled a strand of her hair around her finger out of habit, and sidestepped to block her brother's view of her new-found friend. "I don't know who he is," she replied convincingly, and gently stepped on Will's foot to stop him from protesting. "He's at the Center too, waiting for me to finish up my phone call so he can use it."

Taro sighed in relief. "Oh," he said. "That's good. For a second I thought you were travelling with that kid. No way would I let you travel with a boy. I would march over there and drag you back home in a heartbeat!"

Bella smiled mischievously. "No, it's just me and Eevee still. Oh, I caught a Pichu today too!" she exclaimed. "Isn't that cool? I'm sure the little guy will help me out in my appeals." She paused, and tapped her finger to her chin, thinking. "By the way, are mom and dad there?"

"Nah," Taro replied with a shrug and a sympathetic look at his sister. "Dad's company gave him a paid vacation, so they went back to Kanto to visit some old friends and family. That's why I'm here, actually. I'm watching the house."

"Oh," Bella replied, both looking and sounding downtrodden. "Well, can you tell them I called when they get back? And tell them I'm doing fine on my own, too? Please?"

Taro sent her an affectionate and soft look. "Sure thing, kid," he said warmly. "Call a lot, I know they miss you. Both of their kids are off gallivanting around the world now. I think they get lonely sometime."

"I will," Bella replied, tears pricking at her eyes at the sentimental moment between her and her brother. "I'll talk to you soon, Taro. Bye!" The sound of the click as she lowered the phone back into its socket echoed around the room. She turned to look at Will, and he was surprised by the sunny look that had suddenly dominated her face. "The phone's all yours, if you'd like to call home!"

"Uh, thanks." Will said, trying to stifle the laugh that had backed up into his throat during Bella's call. Even if her older brother scared him a little bit, there was something funny about the caution he had about Bella being around guys.

Bella stepped back and to the side a bit as Will took hold of the phone. Unlike Bella, Will held the phone with one hand instead of cradling it. He wasn't too sure if he should call his grandpa or his parents first, but eventually he decided to call home.

"So then, your brother seems nice," Will said as he started punching in his home number.

"I haven't been able to see him much since he headed off to college. Still treats me like I'm a little kid. But that's what older brothers do," Bella said with her usual warmth and joy, though Will sensed a bit of sadness.

He would have answered Bella, but just at that moment the screen flickered to life. Turning around to see who it was, he was shocked to find a giant pink ball in front of the screen.

"Jiggly?" The pink ball said with a sense of both excitement and curiosity. The only thing Will had to do was blush in embarrassment, hoping that Bella didn't see.

"Who's Jigglypuff is that Will? Mother's, sister's?" She asked with a bit of a giggle.

"Actually, it would belong to his grandpa – AKA me," An old man said as he entered the screen, moving Jigglypuff out of view.

"Good to see you reached Verdeville safe and sound. And it sounds like to me you've met quite a good-looking girl on the way," He said with a bit of a grin, which made Will want to just die on the spot.

"Grandpa, she's just someone I ran into on the route," Will said with a bit of a growl. In the background one could hear a woman's voice speaking in a testy tone.

"Dad, don't embarrass Will in front of girls. Anyway, you need to get back to the lab, so hand the phone over to me so I can talk to him."

Will's grandpa gave out a laugh before saying "Goodbye" before a woman appeared on the screen. One could tell she was Will's mother at first glance as she had the same brown hair as he did, though obviously much longer.

"I really do apologize for your grandpa's behavior," She said with a sympathetic look, "He was always like that. Did the same thing to me when I was your age."

"It's alright mom. Nothing to worry about," Will said as he rubbed the back of his head nervously, his face gaining a red tint.

"Anyway, I see you got to Verdeville alright. Bet you can't wait to take a shot at getting that badge, right?" She teased with a bit of a grin.

"At this point I'm just ready to get some sleep. The last few days have been pretty wild. I caught a Pidgey and a Nincada. Between those two and Squirtle it's going to be a good battle. I'm a bit nervous though," he said.

"Every trainer feels like that before a gym match. But don't worry about it. In fact, use some of that nervousness to pick yourself up and give that gym leader one heck of a fight," She replied with enough energy to make Will take a step back.

"But before you can do that, you need a good night's sleep. Good luck with your match tomorrow, and don't forget to give me a call when it's all over."

"Don't worry mom, I wont," Will replied before the two of them exchanged good-byes. The screen turned to black as the call ended, and he placed the phone back on the receiver.

Bella smiled in an embarrassed manner and not for her own sake either. She sent Will a reassuring smile, silently telling him that there was no reason to be embarrassed for his grandfather's behavior. "Shall we get some sleep?" she said, instead of bringing up his family. "I'm not sure about you, but after today I'm exhausted."

"Yeah," Will replied with a nod, inwardly relieved that she didn't say a thing about his grandfather's embarrassing remark. "Yeah, I have a big day tomorrow; I'd really like to challenge Florence in the morning." He hesitated, looking nervous. "Would you like to come and watch?"

She beamed, her eyes bright and all traces of her previous sadness gone. "Of course!" she exclaimed happily. "I'd love to watch your gym battle. And, I'd like to see Florence too; I want to thank her again for helping me back in the forest."

Will smiled at her, before turning around to head toward the front desk at the Pokémon Center to request two rooms to stay the night in. Bella tagged along absentmindedly, not really paying attention to her own thoughts or anything else around her.

Will was surprised, to say the least, when a trainer came rushing out from a doorway that led to the hospital part of the Center near the front desk. And he was even more surprised that he stopped dead in his tracks as Nurse Joy rushed out after him.

"Wait stop!" Nurse Joy called as she followed the clearly annoyed and angry teenager. "You can't just release it! Just give it more time, I promise you that it will become stronger if you just try harder with it, and maybe treat it more gently."

"I treated it as gently as I could," the trainer replied with a snort as he pressed the enlarge button on the Pokeball he was holding. "Its too weak, I don't want it if it can't become stronger. I tried, it failed. This thing is going to be out of my life for good after this."

"Well, you certainly can't release it here!" Nurse Joy exclaimed in horror as she watched what the boy was doing. "If you must release it at all! I just don't see why you won't give it more time-"

The boy whirled around and glared, making Nurse Joy freeze. "More time?" he demanded. "I gave it a lot of time. I trained and trained with it so much that my other Pokémon became jealous. It could barely do anything against Florence's Pokémon, and it even had a type advantage!"

"But if you just-"

The boy glared. "No." He swiftly turned around and held the Pokeball out in front of him again, and tossed it into the air. The red fox-like Pokémon emerged in front of him, cloaked in the red beam from the ball, signaling its release. "You're free," he snapped. "You're not mine anymore, I'm done with you and your crap."

"Vulpix?" The Pokémon replied, tilting his head. He wasn't to sure what his trainer was trying to say. The trainer, obviously frustrated by this state of confusion, began to storm out of the Pokémon Center. The Vulpix followed behind, as it had been trained to do.

"Didn't you hear me? You are not mine anymore. I don't want you. You are too weak and pathetic. Now just leave me alone!" The trainer cried out with enough fury to make both Bella and Will take a step back. Soon he was out of the Center and into the dark night, leaving the poor Vulpix alone in the middle of the room.

"Vul? Vulpix?" It started to cry, waiting patiently for his trainer to come back. Everyone else in the room, however, knew he wasn't coming back. Nurse Joy walked over and scooped the Pokémon up, trying to keep a smile on her face to cheer it up.

"Aw, poor thing. It just breaks my heart to see trainers just release their Pokémon like they were just some emotionless being that existed just to battle," Nurse Joy sighed as she headed to the back.

Over by the phones, Bella was feeling the same sentiments. She was tearing up just thinking about that Vulpix's future. The feeling of someone's hand on her shoulder shook her out of her thoughts.

"You know, I think you might be able to ask Nurse Joy for that Vulpix. If it can't battle in gyms, maybe it can dazzle in contests?" Will said, trying to help the best he could. He was a bit worried, however, by his lack of sympathy for the Vulpix. While he knew what the trainer had done was wrong, Will could see his reasons. For now, though, he would just repress that thought.

"Do you really think they'd let me take him just like that?" Bella replied, the thought of gaining another Pokémon brightening her thoughts, a bit dampened by the process, though.

"I don't see why not? You have a healthy Eevee, no run-in with the law, and if you wanted to, you could get Florence to vouch for you," Will replied, "So maybe tomorrow, after the gym battle, we can convince her to stop by her and convince Nurse Joy to trade you the Vulpix."

"Yeah!" Bella replied, gently wiping the pricking tears out of her eyes. She smiled up at Will, before her eyes narrowed and her smile drooped into a frown. "I can't believe a trainer would do something like that. I'm sure that he was exaggerating a little too. I mean, even if it's not very strong a fire type would still do quite a bit of damage to a grass type."

He shook his head, a sad smile appearing on his face as he placed his hand on her shoulder and pushed her forward, toward the double doors that led to the rooms that trainers were allowed to sleep in while traveling. "Let's not worry about that now," he said. "Right now, let's just worry about getting some sleep. It was a long day."

Bella yawned, her timing very appropriate. "O..okay," she said, refusing to tear her eyes away from the crying Vulpix as she was propelled through the swinging doors. "Good night," she murmured to it under her breath, not even loud enough for Will himself to hear.

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Light beamed through the windows that dominated the Pokémon Center's walls, cloaking the building in a bright, blinding light. Will sat at one of the booths that jutted from the wall, holding a mug of hot chocolate in his hands. Wearily, his hands reached up rubbed at his eyes in a childlike manner.

"Squirt?" his Pokémon asked as it looked at him with his large eyes, silently asking him if he was okay. Will looked exhausted, with bleary eyes, dark circles and all. It tugged gently on the fabric of his sleeve.

"Oh?" Will said, startled as he looked down abruptly at his Pokémon. He plastered a large smile on his face. "I'm okay. Just worried, I guess. This is our first gym battle and all. I think all trainers are nervous for their first gym battle, even if they do have a lot of confidence in their Pokémon."

"Will!" "Uree!" "Pichu!"

Will turned his head at the three voices simultaneously calling to him. A real smile spread across his face instead of his fake one as Bella rushed forward with her two Pokémon in tow. He nearly fell off of his chair when he realized what her Pokémon were wearing and holding. Her Eevee sported a sapphire blue bandana around its neck, while her Pichu had a red one. And to top it all off, her Pichu was holding a pair of small, red pom-poms.

"Uh, hi Bella, Eevee, Pichu," he said, greeting each one of them by name, sweat-dropping. "Um, why is your Pichu holding pom-poms?"

"To cheer you on, silly!" Bella replied with a giggle. "I would have given Eevee some too, but I think they would be a bit hard for him to hold." Her shiny Pokémon glared at her as she glanced at him. "No opposable thumbs and all, like Pichu does." She turned back to Will and smiled at him. "So, are you ready to go?"

"Aren't you going to go ahead and have some breakfast first?" Will asked, pointing over to the continental breakfast the Pokémon Center was offering, for a small price of course.

"No, I'll be fine. Besides, the faster you beat Florence the faster we can help that Vulpix," Bella said as she started to loose some of the excitement she had been expressing. The thought of what happened the evening before was still heavy on her mind. That was, however, not of immediate concern. She had asked Nurse Joy about the Vulpix earlier. She had said it was physically fine, but he was still depressed and waiting for its owner.

"Well, if that's the case, I say we should get going then, huh Squirtlel," Will said with a sly smile, giving his partner a nod. That was all it needed for the turtle Pokémon to jump out of the booth, ready to get a move on.

"After you at least get something to eat. Even a banana would be good enough."

"Fine, I'll get some fruit or something," Bella replied in frustration. Grabbing one of the apples, making sure to leave a little money behind to pay for it, she headed towards the exit. Will made sure that Squirtle was right behind him before following Bella.

It was a good thing the town was a small one. The gym was within sight almost as soon as they exited the Pokémon Center, or at least its roof was. It was downhill from the Center, and so after a little detour to find a way down, they headed straight for it. From the outside it didn't look impressive, compared to the outside, but everything changed when they stepped inside. Just like the rest of the town, the gym was covered with flowers, but it was just more than that. Fountains provided small, serene waterfalls that fueled bubbling streams that flowed around the edges of the gym. The sweet aroma of fresh flowers was almost overwhelming, yet pleasant at the same time.

"This town really loves their flowers, don't they?" Will asked as he walked in.

"There's a simple reason for that of course," a woman's voice said, startling the two companions.

Looking around, their eyes landed on the figure of Florence. Bella's response to her arrival was that of pure joy, the kind one gets when seeing a friend. Will, on the other hand, was a bit dumbstruck, partly out of respect for a gym leader, partly out of attraction. He felt a small nudge in his ribs, causing him to straighten up and clear his head.

"Good to see you again Florence," Bella said as she rushed to give her friend a hug, which Florence gladly returned. After they parted, she noticed Will standing there, and gave a small smile.

"I'm guessing that is your friend you were with?" Florence asked Bella.

"Yep. That's Will. Being a bit more quiet than usual though," She said, glancing at him angrily.

"Uh, sorry. Distracted by the flowers. Allergies and all that," Will said, trying to salvage the situation. "Anyway, go on about the reason this town loves flowers."

"Oh, I forgot to finish that didn't I? Well, you see, up to the north lies a volcano, which is the dominant force of nature there. Sadly, this region is subject to winds from the northwest, which blows all the ash and hot air southwest. While our town is lucky to avoid most of it, some don't. They are basically wastelands, filled with only the most basic of plant life. And the area immediately north is simply deserts. And so we've taken upon ourselves to brighten the place up with greenery and flowers, trying to bring some joy to this area."

Will nodded, feeling slightly uncomfortable that Bella had caught him staring at Florence. He shifted his weight, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I guess that's a good idea then," Will said, "If no other place is like this, it makes people come from all over probably, huh?"

Florence nodded, smiling. "That's absolutely right," she replied as Bella's Pichu made its way up to her with large eyes, holding its tiny pom-poms for dear life. "That makes meeting people-" She knelt down to the Pokémon's level "-and Pokémon all the more exciting." She turned her attention to the tiny electric mouse. "Well hello there, how are you doing with your new trainer?"

"Pi," Pichu replied shyly, bringing up the pom-poms to cover the lower half of its face, almost as if it were hiding. "Chu…" It looked up at Bella for reassurance, and she nodded. It turned back to Florence, a determined and grateful expression dominating its face as it lowered the pom-poms. "Pi pi pichu."

Florence arched an eyebrow, but kept her gentle smile maintained on her face as she turned to stare at Bella questioningly. "Um," she said. "I wish I knew what this was about, but unfortunately I really don't."

"I didn't want to be the only one thanking you for yesterday," Bella replied with a shrug, looking almost embarrassed. "Pichu knows that you were the one that really saved it yesterday, and not me, so I asked if it wanted to thank you too." Her expression turned thoughtful. "It seemed excited enough when I asked yesterday."

Florence nodded in understanding and turned back to Pichu, taking its tiny paws – and the pom-poms, of course – in her hands and her smile grew wider. "Well, you're welcome then," she said. "It was my pleasure. I'm glad that you ended up with a trainer as nice as Bella is."

"Um," Will interrupted, stuttering slightly and now looking entirely nervous. Florence looked up at him with a questioning look on her face. "Well, that's the reason Bella came today, but I was wondering if I could challenge you for a gym battle?" His eyes hardened with a determined look. "I'm – we're ready. I know we are."

"Of course you do. Shouldn't have surprised me at all you'd ask that. Just give me a moment to get my Pokémon ready, and I'll meet you on the battlefield," Florence said as she released Pichu and headed off.

With Florence gone, Will had nothing else to hide behind, leaving him completely exposed to Bella's reactions to his eyeing Florence. He was a bit surprised when the next words that came out of her mouth had no relevance to that.

"Well then, if the battles about to start, then I guess I have to head up into the stands. Pichu, Eevee, let's get going," she said, motioning her two Pokémon to follow her as she headed towards the stands to watch, leaving Will and Squirtle by themselves.

"Well partner, looks like today's the big day. We're going to see if we have what it takes to become Pokémon masters," He said as he started walking over to his designated spot, Squirtle right on his heels.

"Squirtle squirt," the turtle responded as he stood by his trainer, just itching to fight.

"Sadly, that means you aren't going to battle right off the back," Will said with a look of sadness on his face, hating the fact he had to crush that spirit. Squirtle looked up at his trainer with a quizzical look on his face. "It's just simple strategy. Florence uses grass types, you're a water type. You'd be at a major disadvantage while Pidgey and Nincada wouldn't be."

The response didn't seem to help Squirtle too much as he quickly fell into a state of depression. It really hurt Will to see him like that, but he had to fight it. This would not be the last time Squirtle would have to be put on the sidelines, so it was best the two of them got over it. Still, he could try to help a little.

"But if those two can't finish the job, be sure that I'm going to send you out. You're like a secret weapon of sorts," he reconciled with a grin, hoping that the faked happiness would catch on in Squirtle and cheer him up.

"Squirtle!" He sighed ruefully before moving over to join up with Bella to cheer Will on.

"Alright then, I guess it's time we get this started then, huh Will? Usual gym battle rules: we each use two Pokémon each, and I'm not allowed to substitute," Florence said as she returned, with three Pokeballs attached to a sash on her belt. Will nodded an agreement to the rules, and with that the battle began.

"Alright," Will agreed with a nod of his head. "If I'm correct, you'll do the honors and choose your Pokémon first then?" He knew this was customary, he had seen enough Pokémon battles on TV to know what usually happened between a gym leader and the challenger.

Florence simply smiled and nodded, reaching for the first Pokeball that was attached to her sash. "That's right," she said, and quickly pressed the enlarge button on the Pokeball and tossed it into the air. "And I think I'll begin this gym battle with my Oddish."

A red light emerged from the small red and white ball, narrowing down to a line that pointed to the ground. The red light from the ball quickly materialized into the grass-type Pokémon. The blue plant-like bulb blinked in wonder, and ruffled the leaves on his head. Noticing Will on the other side of the field, it exclaimed a soft, "Odd-ish!"

"Okay, an Oddish," Will murmured to himself, flexing his fingers, hanging near his side. After a moment's thought, he moved to his belt and unclipped a Pokeball, pressing it's enlarge button and tossing it into the air. "Then I think I'll use Pidgey!"

With a flash of red, the small bird arrived on the scene, taking a quick moment to stretch her wings before landing at Will's feet. Oddish, seeing the spectacle, gained a determined look on his face, ready to get the fight started.

"Alright then, challengers get the first move," Florence said, prompting Will to give the first command of the match.

"Pidgey, start beating up some of the dirt around you to create a Sand Attack. Use it as cover to get in close."

Pidgey was quick to respond, quickly beating her small wings to turn up the loose dirt and dust that was bountiful in the flower-laden gym. Soon the air was filled with the dirt and dust, causing Will to cover his mouth to filter it out a bit. He was also forced to turn a little bit to avoid getting it in his eye, a very bad situation in a battle. Still, with it all going the way of Oddish and Florence, they would hopefully be affected more than he would.

"Good work Pidgey, now get close to the Oddish and hit him with a Tackle attack."

While he could only get glimpses of what followed, he had an idea of what was happening. Finishing up the Sand Attack, Pidgey would be flying high above it all, using her sharp eyes to locate the Oddish in the mess. If everything went right, Pidgey would be able to swoop right in with a Tackle attack.

Eventually the dust was able to settle down enough for him to watch, and he found things didn't go as planned. Apparently, while Oddish couldn't see Pidgey, she had some problems finding the small Pokémon in the dirt and dust. She had swooped down with a Tackle attack, but had missed. Right now she was in the middle of a rise, trying to gain some distance from the small bulb.

"Nice attempt Will, but you're going to have to do better than that to win. Oddish, use Sweet Scent," Florence responded with a command to her Pokémon.

Oddish responded by shaking the grassy leaves on his head, causing a slightly pink mist to rise out. Will's nose picked up a sweet smell, and apparently so did Pidgey. Even up in the air, the aroma was hard to ignore, causing her to fly lower in order to enjoy it. This panicked Will a bit, as at that height it wouldn't be too hard for Oddish to land a hit on her.

"Pidgey, uh, try using Gust to blow away the Sweet Scent," Will commanded, hoping that she had learned that move already. Her head shot up at the order, almost as if she was confused about it. Will almost lost faith in the order, until he noticed that Pidgey began to beat her wings rapidly, even more than during a Sand Attack.

Soon the mist was being sent towards the stands, and Bella took a moment to enjoy the new smell. "Will is doing fairly well for his first gym battle," she commented as she breathed in the air, her eyes peaceful due to the smell. Beside her, Pichu clutched pathetically at the pom-poms, trying not to drop them due to its relaxed state.

"Pi pichu…"

Beside Pichu, Eevee was impressed, but not at Will's battling prowess. Instead, he was enjoying the aroma that filled his nose as he lay down on the bench, his eyes drifting shut in his relaxed state. This was something he could get used to…

Back on the battlefield, Gust was having an affect that Will didn't expect. Oddish's small size helped avoid the Tackle attack, but now it was hurting him. He was having trouble holding his ground under the intense winds, even with his feet rooted in the ground. This started to give Will an idea.

"Pidgey, keep up that Gust attack, but try and see if you can mix up some of that dirt as well. And try to keep it all aimed on Oddish."

Pidgey didn't respond with a cry or anything to show she heard, but her actions did. She aimed her Gust attack a bit lower, kicking up the dirt in the process. Dirt, dust, and wind were now pummeling Oddish, and hopefully the onslaught would tire him out.

"Oddish, uproot yourself. This is going to hurt a bit, but trust me," Florence replied, with her Pokémon quickly following the order. Soon he was sent flying, an action that caused Pidgey to stop with her attack. Will thought for a moment it was all over, but Oddish soon found the strength to stand up.

"Now then, use Acid," Florence ordered. Oddish's mouth opened wide, and soon a stream of nasty looking liquid was sent straight above Pidgey. That prevented her from just flying away, but that didn't mean Will would let her get all the damage it could do.

"Pidgey, fly off to the right and swerve down to move the dirt up into the air."

Will's teeth clenched with suspense as Pidgey worked to pull off the tactic. Swerving to the right, the tip of her left wing was hit by the acid. She let out a small cry, but in an impressive show of determination she kept gong. Soon she dived down like a bullet before pulling herself back up with a flap of her wings, sending dirt all up into the air.

"Now use that cover to flank Oddish with a Tackle attack," Will commanded with a tone showing a sense of exhilaration in a plan that was working.

Pidgey swerved to the left this time, but Oddish was busy looking to the right. Florence saw what was about to happen, and gave an order for Oddish to watch out. But once again the Pokémon's small size was his downfall, as he was unable to move far and fast enough to avoid impact. Within moments the first round was over as Oddish was returned to his Pokeball to rest for another battle.

"You did a good job Oddish, and thanks for trying your best. And you Will," Florence's sorrowful tone changed into an almost the same kind a mother uses on a kid that was in trouble, "Don't think that was all I got. Next up is Shroomish."

Florence reattached her Oddish's Pokeball to her sash, quickly reaching for the next one beside it. Lifting up the new Pokeball, she nodded at Will before pressing the enlarge button and tossing it into the air. The red light quickly materialized into the green and peach Pokémon.

"Shroom!" It cried, clearing looking excited at the aspect of a battle. It turned and did his version of a salute at Florence, before turning back to Will and Pidgey and glaring at them in a determined fashion. "Shroom shroomish!"

Will glanced over at the freshly arrived Shroomish, and his tired out Pidgey. He knew she needed a rest, and so with a press of the button he returned her to the comfort of a Pokeball.

"Alright Nincada, looks like you're up," Will said as he released the white and green bug Pokémon. With a few clicks it looked around the area, and was almost ready to tackle the momentous task of smelling the flowers when he noticed Shroomish.

"Nin?" He asked, apparently not sure what he needed to do.

"Alright Nincada, it's time to show them what you're made of. Let's start off with a spray of that Leech Life attack," Will ordered.

Nincada blinked for a second before he got the message, but once it went through he knew exactly what was going on. With a renewed sense of energy and understanding, Nincada turned to face his opponent, sending out as stream of Leech Life at the mushroom-like Pokémon. Shroomish, in response, quickly made a run around the edges of the battlefield, being chased by the attack. It would have been funny if the battle wasn't so important. Eventually Nincada ended the stream, giving Florence time to get out an order.

"Alright Shroomish, release a stream of Stun Spore and paralyze that bug."

Shroomish began to shake himself silly, but in the process a small mist of yellow spores spread over the fields. Nincada didn't have chance to dodge it, so it was all up to luck to see if he could still fight.

"Nincada, use Harden to increase defense before trying to Tackle him."

Nincada's shell shined as a new shell grew over him, calming Will down a bit. With a higher defense, should Nincada get hit during a moment of being paralyzed, he wouldn't be injured too much. Next Nincada began to rush towards Shroomish, but he soon stopped in his tracks. Shroomish saw an opening, and proceeded to return the favor with his own Tackle, ramming straight at Nincada. The bug was sent sprawling along the ground, but soon the paralyzing wore off, for now, and he got back onto his legs.

"Okay Nincada, try and see if you can launch some more Leech Life. But this time switch between aiming at him and the area he is running."

With his new orders, Nincada began to shoot the needles of Leech Life at Shroomish. Shroomish began to run again, and so Nincada aimed straight for where he was running to, not where he was. Soon one found its target, piercing straight into Shroomish. While the mushroom Pokémon looked more tired than before, Nincada looked as if he had gained a small burst of life in him.

With Shroomish temporarily down, Will saw a chance for Nincada to strike. "Alright, try another Tackle attack, but jump up in the air some in case you become paralyzed again," Will said with authority.

Nincada took a step back before rushing right at Shroomish. He jumped straight into the air, just as Shroomish stood back up. The next thing either Pokémon knew, Shroomish was right underneath the mass of Nincada. Will internally had at that moment a sense of joy, as at this close range there was only one thing left to do.

"Alright then Nincada, let's finish this up with another Leech Life."

At point blank range, there was nothing left for Shroomish to do. He couldn't run, and any attacks he did wouldn't get done in time to stop the attack. Within seconds he was knocked out, finally tired out. Nincada got off of him soon afterwards, and started doing what Will thought was a bit of a tap dance.

"Hey Bella, maybe you should use Nincada in a contest," Will laughed jokingly as he watched the little show.

Bella arched an eyebrow at Will, wondering if he was joking or not – or if his sense of humor was really like that – as Florence recalled her Shroomish with a disappointed look on her face. "Er," she said, hesitating as she wondered if she would hurt his feelings if she gave him a smart aleck remark. "No?"

Nincada looked up at Bella as if he had been struck by lightning, narrowing his eyes at the comment and actually looking a little bit insulted. Will sweat-dropped at the scene with a shrug and he turned to face Florence again, who was walking across the field toward him. He stepped forward to meet her.

As they reached at the meeting point in the middle of the field, Florence finally shot Will a smile. "You did very well, for your first gym battle," she commented as she reached into her sash and pulled out a tiny flower-like badge and placed it in his palm. "You really deserve this Gracidea Badge, you know. You worked really hard. I'm actually surprised you were able to beat me."

"To tell you the truth," Will began, hesitant as his eyes cast downward, "I'm a bit surprised too. I mean, this is my first try on a real gym battle and all. I was so sure that I would fail the first time and have to come back for a rematch."

"Just know that not all gym battles will be like this one," Florence advised, looking uncharacteristically serious. "Compared to others, this gym is a piece of cake. You won't find victory easily at the others." Her expression turned joyful in a manner of seconds, and she shot him a wink. "But don't worry about that now. Now's the time to celebrate!"

A smile grew onto Will's face, and he nodded eagerly. "You're right," he said as Squirtle rushed up to him, latching onto his leg to give him a massive hug, blurting out random combinations of his name in his excitement. Will laughed as his Nincada also made its way over to him, hanging around at his feet. He held out his new badge to them. "We got the Gracidea Badge!"

"Will!"

He barely had time to turn his head at the sound of Bella's voice before the girl tackled him, quickly looping her arms around his waist to give him a bone crushing hug as she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, her cheek pressed into his back. Will's face grew a deep shade of red at the hug, embarrassed. After all, the only other girl to hug him was his mom, and that didn't really count anyway…

Bella realized Will's sense of being uncomfortable, and quickly let go, her face flushing gracefully. Her mind quickly searched for a reason to move on when she suddenly remembered the Vulpix. "Oh, Florence, do you mind coming back with us to the Pokémon Center? I needed you to vouch for me about a…"

"A Vulpix, I presume?" Florence said with a grin that almost seemed to mock Bella in a friendly way.

Having her sentence finished like that flustered Bella a little. "But… Why… How did you know about that?" she asked.

"Nurse Joy already called me earlier today. She mentioned there was a Vulpix abandoned by his trainer yesterday, and that there was a trainer interested in adopting it. Once she described the trainer, I realized it was you. So I told her about what happened yesterday, about how you tried to protect that Pichu from the bounty hunter. That was enough for her to know that you'd take good care of that Vulpix," Florence said as she pulled out the familiar red-and-white sphere of a Pokeball, and tossed it over to Bella.

Her hands reached out, barely catching the Pokeball in her grasp, her breathing ragged with anxiety. She had never had good hand-eye coordination, and was a huge klutz to top it all off. Throwing the Pokeball to her was not a very good idea… Her eyes widened when she realized what she was holding, and her breath caught in her throat. "Is this…?"

Florence smiled, and nodded. "I took the liberty of dropping by the Pokémon Center this morning to pick this up from Nurse Joy," she said with a small shrug. "I figured you both would want to get on your way to the next city, seeing how early in the day it is, so I decided to save you some time from having to go back to pick this little guy up."

Bella deadpanned, not ready to believe that she was being handed the Vulpix so easily. "This isn't some sort of sick joke, right?" she demanded, clutching at the Pokeball while Eevee and Pichu looked at it in wonder. "This Pokeball isn't just some empty shell?"

Florence laughed freely. "I've never heard anyone call a Pokeball something like that before!" Feeling embarrassed, she covered her mouth to stifle her laugh at the serious look that Bella's face sported. "If you don't trust me, why don't you open it up and see for yourself?"

Bella suddenly felt extremely nervous as she pressed the button on the Pokeball to enlarge it. Her palms became sweaty and she nearly dropped the small red and white ball due to her slick grasp. She quickly covered up the almost drop as she tossed the Pokeball into the air to open it, like that was her true intention beforehand.

As the red light faded, Bella took the time to admire her new Pokémon. Her gaze drifted over the fox Pokémon's dusty-brown fur, darker auburn stockings, creamy under markings and finally down to its six, bright orange tails and bangs. It blinked up at her cautiously with its tawny-brown eyes.

Bella had to suppress a squeal of excitement as she swooped down and cradled the tiny fox Pokémon in her arms. "Well aren't you just precious?" she cooed as she rocked the Vulpix in the curve of her elbow. "You and I are going to become great friends."

Florence smiled at the scene, and waved her hand. "No need to thank me for bringing it here for you," she said offhandedly. "But, I do have some information that will interest you, Bella. I hear that there's going to be a Pokémon contest coming up soon in Amarillo City. You should enter it. If you do, I might be tempted to come and watch you perform."

"Really?" Bella asked with a large smile dominating her face. She looked down at her three Pokémon, giggling at the confused look on her new Pokémon's face. "I guess we'll have to start training then." She laughed out when Eevee growled at her. "Well, in Eevee's case continue training." She looked over at Florence and sighed happily. "Thank you so much, you've done a lot for us."

"Just doing my duty as a gym leader," Florence said, waving off the polite words. "I need to help someone at some point or another, don't I? I can't just sit around all day either. I train just like you do, trying to get stronger and stronger." She straightened up and looked down at Bella and her Pokémon, reaching into her sash and pulling out a bright orange bandana that matched the fur on Vulpix's tail. "And I think this little one needs an initiation into your team."

Will sweat-dropped when Florence reached over and tied the bright orange bandana around the fire-fox's neck so that it matched Pichu and Eevee's. He sighed, and noticed that his own Pokémon were looking at the spectacle in distaste. He hoped he would never have to dress up his Pokémon, for any reason.

"There," Florence said as she pulled away and looked at her handy work in satisfaction. She turned and glanced between Will and Bella. "You two make sure to take care of each other, do you hear? I don't find to find out that someone got hurt for one reason or another. Even with two of you, there's still a lot of trouble you can get into."

"No problem," Will replied smoothly before he realized what Florence had said, and what he agreed too. His eyes widened when Bella suddenly grabbed his wrist, Vulpix still cradled in one arm, and began to drag him out of the gym at a rapid pace, waving and calling out her goodbyes to Florence over her shoulder, their Pokémon racing along behind them.

A dazed smile crossed his face. His journey was not just his and his Pokémon's anymore, and it was sure to be a wild adventure with many adventures, battles, and now contests too! Will's smile faltered suddenly and a look of horror spread across his face – he hoped that Bella wasn't expecting him to dress up his Pokémon too!

* * *

**(Whamman's) Author's Note:** This is Whamman, letting you know it's that time again. Unlike Bella, Will's Pokemon are subject to popular vote. This time we got a nice Ground-type theme :)

(Note: Cubone starts with one vote. My personal favorite among them XD)

And as Live already explained, the next update won't be out for awhile. But trust me, it'll be a dozy. We'll FINALLY get a chance to find out a bit about what those mysterious Team Twilight people are up to. Dun dun dun.


	6. Chapter 6

"So I was thinking of having Vulpix come out of the Pokeball using Flamethrower to create a ring of flames and… Are you even listening to me, Will?" Bella asked as she glared over at her companion, who was obviously not listening to a word she was saying. He was currently mesmerized by a small, metallic object in his hand; a Gym badge.

"Will, I said are you even listening to me?" Bella yelled a bit as she leaned in closer to him, just to make sure he couldn't ignore what she was saying. Apparently it was enough to catch Will off guard as his subsequent jump was enough to make a Politoed jealous. After that little performance Bella found it hard to stay mad, but she also found it hard to not giggle at least a little. This time it was Will's turn to give an angry glance, though it quickly disappeared off his face as he started talking in an almost apologetic tone.

"I'm sorry Bella; it's just that I couldn't actually believe that I won my first Gym Battle. This is a big step for any trainer, and I guess I just got a bit too absorbed in it."

"Don't worry about it too much, I understand. When I win that first ribbon in Amarillo City I'll… Okay, I won't get absorbed in it. I'll probably find an excuse to show it off whenever I can. Hope you'll forgive me ahead of time for that," Bella said, hoping a small joke would lighten the mood a bit.

"Yeah, can't wait for that day," Will laughed it off before looking ahead at where they were going, "but first we have to get through Rockalanche Valley. And yes, I know the name is a bit weird. I once heard the explorer's daughter named it or something."

On that note, the two of them finally arrived on the outskirts of Verdeville, and from the small plateau they were on they could get a great view of the path ahead. As Florence said before, the route looked dead. There were some thin patches of brown grass here and there, but most of it was rocks. Even from where they were standing, they could feel a dry, hot wind blowing. It was almost depressing, but they had to press on.

"Hey, what's that off a little ways? It looks like a giant rock or something," Bella asked, pointing a finger towards a large object in the distance. Will squinted his eyes a little as he looked, but he had a good idea of what it was.

"You're basically right. It's a giant rock. I remember reading somewhere that a team of archeologists were studying it, believing there was a temple to Regirock or something inside. Haven't heard anything about it recently though."

Bella turned excitedly to Will, her eyes glittering in the sun's light. "Maybe we can check it out then, huh?" she babbled. "I mean, we're already going that way, and it would be amazing to explore something like that, right? We're not due to Amarillo City for a while, anyway. This place could actually be a pretty amazing place to train!"

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. He still wasn't quite used to Bella's bubbling enthusiasm. "Well, I guess so," he said, almost dejectedly. He had really wanted to just hurry up to the next city for his next gym battle. After his first he just couldn't wait! "But let's not stay forever, okay? I'd really like to be out of this valley by nightfall."

Bella crossed her arms and huffed. "Alright, alright," she mumbled as she grabbed Will's wrist and began to drag him forward toward the large rock. "Let's just get there already! Maybe since it's a temple to it, we'll actually see a Regirock!"

"I doubt it," Will murmured as he rolled his eyes. He wouldn't say anything louder. He would let Bella have her fun for now, but if it ever got to be too much... No, he still probably wouldn't say anything to hurt her mood. Just like how her excitement was contagious, her depression was too. Bella's mood was catchable, and it affected everyone around her. "Well, should we let the Pokémon out to see the temple then?"

Will jumped when Bella suddenly dropped his hand and spun around, staring at him with a large smile on her face. He sweat dropped. That was the fastest he had ever seen her move. She quickly grabbed her three Pokeballs, and tossed them into the air, revealing her three Pokémon. Eevee looked annoyed, since she obviously kept him out of his ball most of the time - he must not like it in there. Pichu looked excited and Vulpix looked a little hesitant, its eyes weary.

"Look over there!" Bella exclaimed to her Pokémon, pointing to the large stone temple as Will too released his Squirtle, Pidgey and Nincada. "That's a temple to Regirock." She smiled softly down at her Pokémon. "What do you say about checking it out for the day? It would be a real adventure!"

"Pi pi pichu!" the tiny mouse replied with excitement, though Eevee and Vulpix just stood by quietly. Squirtle and Nincada, on the other hand, joined in with Pichu, voicing their approval of the adventure as Pidgey joined Eevee and Vulpix in not really caring.

"Well then, with Bella's vote and mine as well we have a majority, let's get a move on," Will said with moderate enthusiasm. While he had always wanted to visit a place like this, doing so with a small band of Pokémon and a companion had never crossed his mind.

Bella and all the Pokémon in favor of the journey rushed down the slopes that led into the valley, with Will and the others following behind as best they could. It didn't take long for them to get to the bottom, where Bella finally relented and let them all catch up.

"Come on you Slowpokes. If we don't get there soon we might not be able to explore it at all before the sun sets. And then we'd be down there all alone, in complete darkness," Bella said with a grin showing malicious intent. Earlier Will had told her of what had happened in Darkroot Forest, and now seemed to be a perfect time to exploit his mild fear of ghosts. The plan worked, as when they started to move again Will had a bit more spring to his step than before.

While at the top of the valley the temple could be seen, once they had reached the bottom some walking was needed before it became visible again. Soon, however, the almost cliff-like walls of the monument to Regirock became visible, and with it another site. Since Bella had been leading the gang, she was the first to stop and gasp at the sight.

"Will, I think you might want to take a look at this," She said as he caught up, and a look of fear placed itself on his face he surveyed the scene. It looked like a camp of some sorts, with simple tan tents lined up all in a row. Various tables were scattered over the place, with ancient objects (probably from the temple) organized on top. There was even a small fire going, with a pot brewing some kind of soup with its aroma filling the air. There were also bowls and spoons nearby and if it weren't for the fact that there was no living soul in sight one would think that they stumbled in during lunch.

"Where is everyone?" Will asked, wanting to get the obvious question out into the open.

"I don't know, but it looks as if they left in a hurry. No one planning on leaving would have left a fire like that going. Maybe we should take a look around and see if there is anyone left," Bella said with an authoritative tone as she started checking the tents, her Pokémon, Will, and his Pokémon soon following her example. Looking through the tents, it wasn't hard to see that whatever had happened, it had happened in a big rush. Beds were unmade, papers on the floor, and overall a general mess. Will was digging through a random tent when all of a sudden he heard his Pidgey making a fuss.

"Hey everyone, I think Pidgey found something," Will said as he left the tent he was in and headed over to where his Pidgey was flapping madly.

He grabbed a hold of her to calm her down a bit as he looked into what she had found. The sight of a bunch of men and women in khakis and tan-short sleeve shirts was a bit beyond what he thought. They were all tied up, with duct tape all over their mouths, though when Will came into view they went mad with muffled yells. Bella and everyone else came around at this time, and she let out a small gasp at the sight. It didn't take long for her to rush to someone and pull of the tape. It was an older man, probably in his thirties, and as soon as the tape was off he took in a massive breath.

"Squirtle, Pidgey, Nincada, go and get the tape off of everyone else," Will ordered his Pokémon to do so, with Bella giving the same command to hers before turning their attention to the first man.

"Are you alright sir? What happened here?" She rushed on, a look of genuine concern manifesting itself as she squatted down to the man's level.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but that's not important right now. What is important is that a group of people called Team Twilight is in the ruins right now looking for Regirock."

"Regirock?" Bella questioned in a puzzled manner, tipping her head curiously to one side. She blinked in bewilderment as Pichu padded up to her and crawled into her arms. She hugged the small mouse Pokémon, silently expressing her concern for the archeologists. "I didn't think Regirock was real. Isn't it just a legend? Kind of like Mew in Kanto?"

The man shook his head, his eyes weary. "Regirock is not just a legend, my young friend," he said, shying away as Eevee stomped toward him and sniffed him suspiciously. "It has been sighted in this area many a times. We've narrowed down its location to within this temple. However, until now, we've been having a hard time entering. And now... Team Twilight will ruin all of our research."

"Just who are Team Twilight anyway?" Bella asked, voicing her question only seconds before Will could ask himself. "Their name kind of reminds me of Team Rocket in Kanto, but they were shut down by the police with the help from a trainer named Ash a long time ago."

The man smiled, amused. "You seem to know a lot about Kanto," he said. "I assume that you're from there?" Bella nodded, hesitant. "Team Twilight is, a matter of fact, a lot like Team Rocket. However, no one quite knows what they're up to, though. It has something to do with Regirock, Registeel and Regice - and maybe even Regigigas too. But, I couldn't tell you for sure."

"So they're here then?" Will asked, feeling anger bubbling into his veins. He had heard about Team Rocket in Kanto on TV, and if Team Twilight was trying to exploit Pokémon like the teams in Kanto were, well, he just wouldn't stand for it! "We'll get them out of here, don't worry, sir. If Bella and I work together, I'm sure we can pull it off."

A worried look crept onto Bella's face, and she hesitantly reached over and tugged on Will's shirtsleeve. He turned to look at her. "I don't know, Will..." she murmured. "Team Rocket was really strong, and I'm sure that Team Twilight is even stronger! You've only just had your first gym battle; maybe we should get more official help - like the police."

Will's hand curled into a fist, and a confident aura swirled around him, making Bella nearly roll her eyes. "We can do it!" he exclaimed. "We have all our Pokémon with us, and I'm sure they'll work super hard for our cause! No need to worry!"

"Why does that make me even more worried?" Bella mumbled to herself as Will stormed out of the tent, his Pokémon finishing up untying the archeologists before following after him. Before she headed out, however, one of the archeologists grabbed her wrist and pulled her outside.

"Listen, I can see how worried you look, but don't worry. We have Pokémon with us, but Team Twilight took them somewhere. As soon as we find them we'll catch up with you two. Just promise me that you won't let them get Regirock."

"Don't worry, I promise," She replied, with a little bit of uncertainty still in her voice. While everyone else seemed confident they could do it, she wasn't so sure. Back in Kanto, Team Rocket seemed almost unstoppable, and if Team Twilight was there equivalent here, then who knew what they were capable of. Still, she and Will had been entrusted by these people to stop them, and she would do her best to do so.

"Alright everyone, let's catch up with Will and see if we can stop these guys," Bella said, motioning with her hand towards the temple as her Pokémon followed along right behind. Eevee was in a better mood now as he was enjoying the freedom of being out of the ball, with Pichu following right on his heels. Vulpix was still a bit shy, moving along slowly in the back.

It didn't take long to reach the entrance of the temple from the camp. It didn't look like much as it looked just like any old cave wall. Then again, it would be a perfect setup for Regirock. Sadly, only the first few feet beyond the entrance could be seen. The rest was pitch black, something that neither Will nor Bella liked. It would be relatively easy for someone to sneak up on them in such a place. Still, they had to go on and stop Team Twilight. Will took a deep breath, knowing it would be the last intake of fresh air for awhile.

"Alright then, let's do this," He said, talking to himself as much as the others. It only took a few steps in before everyone could feel the cool, damp air of a cave. At first, they couldn't see their hands in front of them, but eventually their eyes began to adjust to the darkness. While their vision still wasn't top notch, they could begin to see that the walls were smooth, indicating that they were manmade.

Bella trailed her fingertips against the smooth surface of the wall, her breath getting caught in her throat as she felt the faint dents of engravings. "Just what is this place?" she asked, her voice quivering. She ripped her hand away from the wall. "I don't like it in there, it's too dark."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Will asked, grumbling. He still seemed a bit upset that she doubted them so much. They were strong, they could do it! "I don't have a flashlight and neither do you, or else you would have pulled it out already."

Bella squealed, the sudden and loud sound causing Will to jump, and there was a loud thud as he crashed into the wall. "I know!" she exclaimed. She looked down to where she assumed her Vulpix was. "Vulpix, could you please use Will-O-Wisp to light up the passageway?"

"Vul," the fox Pokémon said hesitantly in reply with a nod if its head. Bella held her breath as her Pokémon's normal tawny-brown eyes began to glow a ghostly blue with white undertones. "Vuuuuul..." Four small blue flames flickered into life over Vulpix's head, their white center trembling continuously.

Light swept into the passage like water, washing over the walls, ceiling and floors. Bella clapped happily as her ingenious idea worked, her eyes bright. She flashed Will a bright, excited smile. He too, sighed in relief. Things would be so much easier now that they could see where they were going. And maybe Bella would stop complaining now too.

"Pi pichuuuuu!"

Will and Bella's heads turned to look deeper into the tunnel as the small mouse Pokémon called out to them, their eyes worried. Bella giggled in embarrassment as she found that Pichu, Eevee, Squirtle, Pidgey and Nincada were already about a hundred yards ahead of them.

"Whoops," she said as she scooped her fire-Pokémon into her arms, nearly breaking its concentration on using Will-O-Wisp. She glanced at Will. "Looks like we're the ones getting left behind, eh, Will?" She tugged on his wrist, urging him to move faster. "Let's catch up. I don't want to get separated."

The Pokémon waited patiently as their trainers caught up to them. Everyone was glad to finally have some light, and with it the ability to see what the walls revealed. It wasn't that much, mostly just carvings of people and a giant rock creature that they had assumed to be Regirock. About the only thing of notice to them was that the creature looked as if it was holding something, but they believed it was probably a sacrifice or something of the sort.

"And to think, ages ago people were coming in here daily to see a real Regirock," Bella said, awed by such an idea. In this day and age you were lucky to even get a glimpse of a Legendary Pokémon, and here these people had one right next door. She just hoped that they would get lucky and actually get to see this Regirock.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't get your… Bella, tell Vulpix to stop with the Will-O-Wisp," Will said suddenly, lowering his voice. Bella was about to ask why, but the sound of voices up ahead was enough to get her to understand. She whispered to the fox Pokémon, whose eyes soon returned to normal as the flames disappeared. Everyone stopped moving, straining to here the conversation ahead.

"I believe that's everything we need. To bad the Regirock didn't show up. He would have made a nice addition to the team," A male's voice said, almost like he was saddened by something.

"Yeah, well, I really didn't feel like dealing with a giant rock-head. I just want to get out of here as soon as possible. This place gives me the creeps. I'm surprised that there aren't any Ghost Pokémon in here," A female voice scoffed.

Bella's eyes widened nervously as she turned to Will, who scratched the back of his head. He was stuck in a sticky situation right now. He wanted look take down Team Twilight, but Bella looked as if she were about to burst into tears at any moment. He didn't think he would be able to crying, much less a crying girl.

He sighed. He understood that she didn't want to be here – even if he didn't understand why she didn't believe in them as much as he did – but he really didn't want her to cry either. He could feel Bella trembling in fear as he placed his hand on her shoulder, hoping that the action was comforting.

She silently mouthed the words 'Team Twilight' to him, he nodded as a response. She took in a deep, shaky breath, and pulled herself together as best as she could. She quickly rubbed at her eyes, wiping away the tears that were threatening to fall, holding onto Vulpix with one arm.

The small fire-fox whined softly, obviously disgruntled by the situation. Something strange was going on here with its trainer, and it didn't like it one bit. He wanted to glare at Will, looking for someone to blame, but it knew that the young boy was not the problem. It looked away begrudgingly, its eyes narrowed.

Eevee growled menacingly from a few feet away, just barely peering around what they thought to be a corner. Bella looked at her Pokémon worriedly, before creeping forward. Will followed her warily, mimicking her actions when she pulled out two Pokeballs and recalling Vulpix and Pichu, leaving only Eevee and Squirtle out.

Approaching the small, silver fox-like Pokémon, she gently scooped him up into her arms, holding onto him for dear life. She sent Will another fearful glance, before peering around the corner, and into the dark cavern beyond.

She blinked carefully, surprised by the sudden light and the fact that she could now see into the cave. Fire torches were hung from the walls and at the far end of the cavern was a statue of what she thought to be Regirock, placed upon a small platform that looked more like a stage than anything.

She forced herself not to gasp as she spotted the Team Twilight members huddled in a circle in front of it, looking down at something that she could not make out – it was still too dark. Seeing as it was her first time seeing a few of the members of Team Twilight, she quickly recorded their appearance to memory.

Each member, strangely enough, had ghostly-pale hair – the thick silvery-white strands brushing into their faces and eyes, so that she could barely make out the colors of their irises. All cloaked in black trench coats, she could scarcely see their features to determine their genders. The only thing that she took as the difference between the male and female members was their hair length.

"I think we can take them," Will whispered, his voice trembling. He had hoped that there would only be one or two, but instead they had to face a small group. Still, he was confident the two of them and their Pokémon could hold the group long enough for the archeologists to arrive. Besides, they had the advantage of surprise on their side. That would hopefully be enough to turn the tide of the oncoming battle to their side.

"Alright Bella, when I give Squirtle the order to attack, you follow up with an attack of Eevee's. Make sure it is aimed, and aim for the waist, and hope that some Pokeballs get shot off. "

Turning to his turtle-like companion, who, like the others, looked worried about the battle ahead, he repeated the instructions. Squirtle nodded, and placed himself partially in the doorway to get a better sight.

"Alright then Squirtle, Water Gun in three, two… one."

With that Squirtle released a blast of water, which shot straight toward the group of Twilight members, who were soon quickly being drenched by the attack. If only they had Pichu out of its Pokeball, as it could end the battle quick with a nice water-assisted shock. But there was not enough time to call it out now. So for now they'd have to rely on Squirtle and Eevee to get the job done.

Bella sucked in a sharp breath. That apparently her cue, now the next attack was up to her. In her arms, Eevee was looking worriedly up at her. He knew the plan, of course, but she wasn't giving him an order. He needed her to tell him what to do, or else they would fail in their mission. "Uree?"

Bella snapped out of her trance, and turned down to face him, an embarrassed smile spreading across her lips. "Sorry," she murmured sheepishly. "Are you ready, then?" Eevee nodded confidently in response. She smiled. "Okay then, let's show them all some of those moves we used back in Kanto – Quick Attack!"

At her order, she tossed her arms into the air, and Eevee fluidly jumped out of her grasp. Will looked on curiously. Had they practiced that move for a contest, or was it just spontaneous? Either way, he was impressed with Eevee's liquid movements, bounding forward with movement to match that of a Suicune.

With a streak of bright light, and the thudding of paws, Eevee was on the Team Twilight grunts in an instant, flashing past so quickly that they didn't even know what was happening. For all they knew some wild Pokémon was attacking them for entering the temple in the first place.

"What the heck?" the grunts exclaimed as their Pokeballs fell to the ground with a thud. Eevee had unhooked them from their belts as he flashed past them. Speaking of the silver-fox, he landed on the ground a few yards away, his legs braced as he skidded along the ground.

Seeing the startled look on the Team Twilight members' faces, Will stepped forward from the shadows, his fists clenched as his sides. "Give it up, Team Twilight," he said, his voice strong and the quiver gone. "Stop your plans and we'll let you go without a fight. But if we have to, we'll fight you."

"Yeah right, kid," one of the Team Twilight members, a male, scoffed. He laughed manically as the rest of the team bent down and scooped up their scattered Pokeballs before both Will or Bella could protest. Every member on the squad pressed the enlarge button on their Pokeballs simultaneously. "Would you like to test out that theory?"

They tossed their Pokeballs into the air. The red light faded as quickly as it came, revealing the enemy Pokémon that they were destined to battle. Eevee growled in shock as it stared face-to-face with one of its evolutions, an Umbreon. The other two grunts continued to laugh as a Houndoom and an Absol stood in front of Squirtle, snarling.

"Uh oh," Bella murmured, reaching to grasp at Will's sleeve in fear. She tugged on his shirt desperately, and pulled him down to her height to whisper in his ear. "Will, we can't take on three fully evolved Pokémon, especially these three!"

Will's breathing grew ragged. He knew that she was right, but he didn't want to admit it. "No, we can do this," he boasted, trying to convince himself of it. "Give Eevee some flashy orders to confuse them, and I'll cover you." He finally pulled his gaze away from his opponents to look down at his friend. "Its okay, we got this covered."

Bella sighed in defeat, dropping her hand away from his arm. "Okay Eevee, just like we practiced," she called. "Let's get this thing started – use Shadow Ball on Umbreon." Bella lowered her voice and muttered, "Since you seem so enthralled with it and it's the closest one to you."

Eevee narrowed its blue eyes, opening its mouth as a ball of black-violet energy began to form in the back of its throat. Squirtle ran over to Eevee, stopping beside it, as it knew that it was supposed to cover it. Although, it didn't know what was so flashy about a simple Shadow Ball attack. As the ball grew to full size, Eevee snapped his jaws shut, and the shadowy-blob took off, hurling toward the Umbreon.

"Go!" Bella urged her Pokémon; making Will wonder just what she was up to.

Following her command, Eevee knew just what it was doing, and hurled itself along after the spiraling sphere of dark energy. Just as the Shadow Ball attack was about to slam into Umbreon, Eevee lunged into the air, jumping on top of it. Barely on the ball for a second, he pushed off of it with his paws, using the energy almost like a trampoline.

"Now use Bite!"

Too close for his opponent to dodge, or for any of the other Pokémon to interfere, Eevee happily obliged, lodging his fangs onto the base of its evolution's throat. Umbreon reared up onto its hind paws, screeching in pain. Lowering its paws onto the ground, it tried hopelessly to throw Eevee off.

There was a growl, and Eevee's eyes snapped to the side and widened as it spotted Houndoom rushing toward him at a rapid rate, a flamethrower growing at the back if its throat. Just as he was about to dislodge himself from the Umbreon, Squirtle came rushing in, opening its mouth and blasting a stream of water at the dark and fire-type Pokémon.

The Houndoom had too much momentum going to allow it to dodge completely, only getting hit on his lower end than straight in the middle. It was enough to send the dark-furred dog rolling onto the sidelines.

Squirtle, proud at how well he done, was to busy watching the scene to notice that the Absol was sneaking up right behind him. Eevee was too busy holding onto the Umbreon, who was starting to weaken somewhat from the struggle, to do anything. The look of concern and fear, however, was enough to get Squirtle to turn around, only to receive a painful slash to the face from the Absol's Scratch attack. The marks were pretty bad, and Squirtle raised his hands to defend against anymore attacks.

"Squirtle!" Will cried as he rushed towards the turtle Pokémon, completely ignoring the battle going on around him. In the back of his head he knew that such a stunt was stupid and way out of his normal character, but seeing Squirtle in so much pain was enough to override that thought. Two of the Team Twilight members rushed over to grab him, twisting his arm behind him as painfully as they could.

"Will!" Bella cried in horror as her friend groaned. Her anxious cry pulled the boy out of his surprised state, and he began to struggle against the Team Twilight grunts. She took a nervous step backward, her hands clenched into fists at her side. She knew this was a bad idea from the start, and Will wouldn't be in this position if he had just listened to her in the first place.

A yelp from Eevee snapped Bella's attention away from Will, and she looked over to her Pokémon just in time to see the enemy Umbreon sink its fangs into the scruff at the back of his neck and yank painfully. The dark-type Pokémon ignored the pain as it ripped its previous evolution's teeth from its body, flinging the small fox Pokémon across the chamber. His body slammed into the wall with a thud.

"Eevee!" Bella exclaimed in horror, rushing forward a few steps before pausing. She didn't want the same thing that happened to Will happen to her, but she had to make sure her precious Pokémon was okay. "Are you okay?"

Eevee struggled to its paws, one eye clenched shut as it tried to stand up. "Uraa…" it said weakly as it finally gained balance on its feet. It panted quickly, trying to regain its breath and strength. He knew that this battle was far from over, but he didn't know if he had enough energy to continue.

Things were going bad, and Will knew it. His stomach was all in a knot, knowing full well that this was his entire fault. Still, he would have plenty of time to wallow in guilt. Right now he had to salvage the mission and get everyone out of here. Sadly, even with all of his strength, he was failing to get out of the clutches of the Twilight members. There only hope was that Squirtle and Eevee could hang on just a bit longer, in hopes that the archeologists would arrive. But Eevee was struggling to stand up, and Squirtle was still in pain from the Scratch attack.

"Squirtle! We need you to get back in the fight. Eevee needs you, Bella needs you, and I need you. I know that Scratch hurt, but you got to push through it," Will said, with the occasional pause as he worked to struggle free from the grip of the dark-gloved hands.

The three dark-type Pokémon, seeing Eevee in such a pitiful state, had been advancing upon Squirtle during the last few moments. The turtle Pokémon hadn't seen them, but hearing his trainer call out like that was enough to knock him back to his senses. Moving his arms away from his face, he turned to face the three Pokémon. His face was stinging worse than swarm of Beedrill, but he knew he had to do something to help Will and the others.

On the other side of the room Eevee had succeeded in standing up. Bella, stuck between a feeling of relief as well as a feeling of pride in her Pokémon's strength, started to tear up a little.

"Go and get them, Eevee," She said, an order that Eevee was determined to fill out.

Still, even with the full confidences of their trainers, the two Pokémon were scared stiff. Their trainers were in serious danger. This wasn't a gym battle or some contest, but a real life-or-death situation. One wrong move, one missed opportunity, and everything was over. Still, the two of them stood as confident as possible, Eevee growling and baring his teeth and Squirtle with his fist clenched.

The turtle knew that he had to so something, and soon, or they would all be goners. A bead of sweat began top roll down his head as he pushed himself to come up with a plan to get them out of this sticky situation. With not much else to lean back on, Squirtle sent another jet of water toward the three dark-type Pokémon.

Their three enemies nimbly jumped out of the way just as Eevee was beginning his advance toward their turned backs. At the sudden movements, the blast of water bypassed its original targets to drench Eevee in the face. He blinked, deadpanning, before shaking the water out of his fur like a dog.

"Uraa!" Eevee barked at Squirtle, its fur bristling with anger. The tiny turtle merely sweat-dropped, egging the silver-fox Pokémon on further. Growling and narrowing its eyes, he opened his mouth and shooting a blast of star-shaped rays at him. Squirtle barely had time to throw its hands up to cover its face again.

As the smoke and the attack faded, it revealed Squirtle looking pretty scratched up, and shaking. Although, the shaking was not due to pain, the turtle looked simply angry. Fire entered its eyes, and its hands clenched into fists. It shot a cringe-worthy glare at his trainer's traveling partner's Pokémon.

A brilliant light suddenly swathed around Squirtle, making everyone in the dark chamber pause to look on at the sight – even the Team Twilight grunts. The turtle Pokémon's shape changed briefly before the light faded, revealing a bipedal, indigo-blue turtle with a brown shell and a long, furry tail and ears

"Tortle," it said, its voice deeper than it was as a Squirtle.

"Squirtle… evolved!" Bella exclaimed in a whisper, her voice laced with awe. She looked over at Will excitedly, who seemed completely shocked at the change in his Pokémon. Turning back to the new Pokémon, she pulled out her Pokedex and it began to talk:

"Wartortle – the turtle Pokémon: It is said to live 10,000 years. Its furry tail is popular as a symbol of longevity."

"Well, it isn't going to get the chance to survive for that long," one of the Twilight grunts sniped as the trio of dark type Pokémon attacked once more.

Wartortle, feeling emboldened by his evolution, stood firm and ready to take them on. Just as the Absol jumped into the air to attempt to tackle him to the ground, a bone whacked it in the head and knocked it out cold. Everyone's eyes followed it as it swerved towards the entrance to the chamber, where the archeologist from earlier was standing. In front of him was standing a skull-wearing Pokémon; Marowak.

"Sorry I'm a bit late. I had some trouble finding Marowak here, but we're going to end this now," He said, looking over at Wartortle and Eevee before turning his attention towards the two remaining Twilight Pokémon.

The Houndoom growled fiercely at the Marowak while Umbreon did the same towards Eevee. Looking at the situation, however, showed the battle was turning against them. There were now three opponents all on different sides, and one of their own was knocked out.

"Think it's time to get out of here?" One of the grunts whispered over to the others, and they concurred. But even then, they knew they would have to fight there way out.

"Houndoom, use Smog attack," one of them ordered. The Houndoom sucked in a breath of air before belching out a large, purple cloud of gas that quickly filled the room.

All the humans and Pokémon were forced to cover their mouths, noses, and muzzles in order to avoid breathing in the toxic gases. The archeologist, standing in the doorway, had the advantage of being out of the worse of it, and ordered Marowak to keep an eye out for the Twilight members.

The skull-laden Pokémon's eyes started scanning the room, but with all the gas it was hard to see. He could make out the silhouettes of the Twilight members heading towards the back of the room. He motioned with his club towards them, and the archeologist ordered a Bonemerang attack. With a quick flick of the wrist, Marowak sent his bone flying towards them, and apparently had the luck of striking one of them in the back. He collapsed, but the other two picked him up and slung him around their shoulders. By the time the bone returned, they were gone.

The smog began to disappear at the same time the grunts did, and upon further inspection of the room they could see why. There was an open passageway to the outside, most likely some sort of secret passage that hadn't been opened when Bella and Will arrived. The archeologist looked disappointed at the escape of the grunts, but he quickly pushed it to the back of his mind as he witnessed the others moving a bit slowly.

"Come on, we'll get you back to the camp. We have antidotes you could use for that poison."

Bella quickly rushed over to Eevee, who nearly collapsed in her arms, panting tiredly. She crooned softly to him, before making her way back over to Will and the archeologist. "Thank goodness," she exclaimed as she approached them, "You arrived just in time. Even though Squirtle evolved into Wartortle, we were backed into a corner."

"I'm sorry," Will said, ducking his head in shame. "I should have listened to you earlier, Bella." He sighed. "Well, my mother always said that the female population has women's intuition. I guess I should have trusted yours."

Bella cradled Eevee with one arm, and placed a comforting hand on Will's shoulder. "It's okay," she said. "I'm sure you've heard the story that the guy never lets the girl ask for directions. Your egos are too big." Will opened his mouth, looking offended. "Just kidding," she said quickly, laughing.

The archeologist stepped in before Will could add a word in edgewise, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "Let's head to the surface, then?" he said, gently propelling them toward the exit to the temple and the surface. "I'm sure your Pokémon wouldn't mind being healed from that battle."

"Yeah," Bella said, looking down at Eevee and scratching him under his chin. "You did amazing, you know," she told him. "You really nailed that Shadow Ball-Bite combination. Much better than that fumble back in Kanto."

Eevee replied to the comment with a dirty looking glare, as he was not the kind of Pokémon who enjoyed being reminded of past mistakes. Bella laughed at the look before continuing to scratch him under the chin, calming the fox-like Pokémon down some.

Eventually the group made their way back to the camp, where the other archeologists were busy cleaning the place up. Bella and Will were led towards a tent that housed an on-site clinic. Inside there were a few boxes of various potions and antidotes, and the archeologist walked over to grab some.

"Alright. Wartortle and Eevee, I'm going to need you to sit still for a moment," He said, causing the two Pokémon to back up in fear. Will and Bella assisted the archeologist in getting the two of them to sit still long enough for the antidotes to be injected. Will had to give a small laugh as he watched Wartortle rub the injection spot, grumbling as he did so.

"Now that they are taken care of, I need to thank you two for your help today against Team Twilight," He said as he headed out of the tent, leaving the small group of humans and Pokémon behind. Everyone was wondering where he went off to, but no one wanted to ask the obvious question. They just stood there in awkward silence before Will spoke up.

"So then, what's this about guys having big egos?" he asked, a small smile on his face showing that he was asking the question as a joke and not a serious question. Bella was about respond in part, but the archeologist quickly returned, grasping two Pokeballs in his hands.

"Now then, since the two of you look like trainers, I thought it would be nice of us to hand you over these two Pokémon. For Will, here is a Cubone. And for you Bella we have a Trapinch," he said as he handed the red-and-white containers over to the two trainers, who politely thanked the man before taking a hold of the balls.

After seeing the Marowak from earlier in action, Will had been thinking of getting one himself. The Cubone line seemed built for battling between the helmet and the bone that served as its weapon. Besides, any new addition to his team was a welcome one as it not only increased his battling diversity, but also increased the amount of potential friends he could make.

As Bella took the Pokeball from the archeologist's hand, she tried to mask her distaste with excitement – not that it was working extremely well, of course. "Um," she began hesitantly – she didn't want to sound ungrateful, because she really was, "Trapinch… is a bug?"

The archeologist chuckled nervously – or was it in embarrassment? "Not quite," he said, sweat-dropping. "Trapinch is a Ground-type. I know that its large head and tiny body give it the appearance of a Bug-type, but it really is a useful Pokémon. And, its last stage is a Flygon, a duo Dragon and Ground-type."

"Well... I guess that's okay then," she said, not quite convinced that a Pokémon that looked like a bug could be useful at all. "I'm not so sure how well its appearance will do in contests, but…" She looked up at the professor and gave him a genuine smile. "Thanks. I – we really appreciate it."

"Yes," Will added, "thank you so much for these Pokémon, I promise you that we'll do our best to raise them. And thanks for saving us down in the temple too. I really shouldn't have rushed in there like that. I should have thought about everything first, and not been rash."

"Don't beat yourself up over it kid. Your heart was in the right place, and you succeeded in holding them off long enough for us to arrive and back you up. Besides, your Squirtle evolved. I would say overall you had a good day."

"Yeah, well, still, it was just so unlike me to do that sort of thing and…"

Will stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turning his head towards the source, he was greeted by Bella's face, currently showing a mix of annoyance and concern.

"You know Will, people make mistakes, and they are going to get in trouble because of that. But if you're going to go all the way to the Pokémon League, you're going to need to pick yourself up when you fall down."

"Yeah, I guess you're… Pokémon League? I almost forgot!" Will exclaimed as he ran outside, looking up into sky as the sun began to set, filling the sky with a wide range of reds and oranges. It was a beautiful site, but Will had more important things on his mind. "Great, we lost an entire day of travel to Amarillo City, and that means we'll miss your contest, Bella," Will mumbled as Bella appeared next to him.

"Not exactly. Unless Team Twilight took it, we have a jeep. We could drive you into the city real quick. It's not a long drive from here," The archeologist said, and the offer quickly brought back Will's spirit. The duo and their Pokémon followed the man as he headed around to the back of the camp, and within minutes the sounds of an engine could be heard.

Bella got in first, and Eevee quickly jumped onto her lap and began to sleep, his white-furred chest rising and falling deeply and slowly. Bella began to pet Eevee as Will came in, with Wartortle attempting to copy Eevee's position. This didn't work out as well due to his size, but Will didn't want to ruin his newly evolved Pokémon's sleep. He would suffer under the mass of the turtle Pokémon as the jeep made its way towards Amarillo City, and all the adventures that would await them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Notes: **Well, it took some time, but Chapter 7 has finally arrived. Bella finally gets her chance in the spotlight as she competes in her first contest. No poll at the end of the story today. And I apologize for my last poll because I noticed it hadn't gone through. Thats getting annoying. Anyways, don't forget to read and review. It is comments from viewers like you that make it all worthwhile. That, and all the spare time I eat up working on this XD.

* * *

Will lightly tapped his foot as he waited for his mother to pick up the phone. At the moment he and Bella were in the Amarillo City Pokémon Center, and Will realized he had forgotten to call home about his gym match success. Besides, he also wanted to show off his newly evolved Wartortle, who was currently munching happily Pokefood alongside the rest of Will's Pokémon.

Eventually the screen popped up and, and just like the last time he called home, Jigglypuff had answered.

"Jiggly?" It asked, before it recognized Will and let out a small squeal of joy. Will smiled slightly and asked if his mom was home. The pink Pokémon nodded yes, and called out towards an off-screen figure. Within a moment, Will's mom was on the phone.

"Oh, I was starting to wonder if you were going to call again, honey. So tell me, how did the gym battle go?"

"You tell me," Will replied with a grin as he pulled out the badge from the Verde Town gym, making sure that it was visible to his mom.

"Honey, that's wonderful!" His mom exclaimed in congratulations.

"That's not all. Squirtle just evolved into a Wartortle earlier today. Hey Wartortle, let my mom get a good look at you," Will called out to the Turtle Pokémon, moving aside to let his mom get a good view. Wartortle just continued to sit and munch his food, though he did give a small wave to say hello.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're taking good care of your Pokémon. If you weren't, Grandpa would probably come and beat you down." She said with a small laugh, even if they both knew that would have been the result if Wartortle and the others weren't taken care of.

"So then, your Grandpa tells me you're traveling with a girl named… Bella was it?" She asked, and Will's face started blushing. He wasn't sure that his mom approved or disapproved of his travelling with Bella, so he just nodded a yes.

"While I'm not to sure if you should be doing that, you're old enough to make up your own mind. Besides, your Grandpa said she looked like a nice girl, although I don't have complete faith in his taste of women."

Will was so hoping that Bella wasn't hanging around the phones listening to this conversation. His mother and he exchanged a few more small comments, with him letting her know where he was and how he was doing while she nagged him about eating right, being hygienic, and all the other stuff moms bug their kids about. Eventually Will finished talking with her, and after a quick round of 'I love you' he hung up.

"So Bella, anybody you want to call, or are you good?"

Will glanced over to his friend when she refused to respond - silence the only answer that was to come from her. His brow furrowed when he saw her sitting at a dining booth only about three feet away, using her fork to play with her food, but never taking a bite. He moved over to the table and slid into the booth opposite of her. "Hey, are you okay?"

Bella sighed, resting her hand on her cheek and looking at the plate of food with lack of appetite. Eevee, who was sitting on the faux leather booth next to her, looked up at his trainer with wide worried eyes at her lack of response and hunger. "Nervous, I guess," she mumbled, finally answering him. "The prospect of the Contest tomorrow is making me feel nauseous."

"But, you've been in Contests before, haven't you?" Will asked, feeling slightly confused as he leaned over the table to look at his friend better. "In Kanto, I mean. Sure, this is your first Contest here, but you've got the experience it takes to win. Besides, I've seen you battle and your combinations are really good. Team Twilight never could have predicted your next move yesterday."

She sighed again, still rolling the food around on her plate with her fork. "Thanks, I guess," she murmured. Not really looking at either Will or Eevee, she abruptly stood up and took her plate full of food in hand to throw the remains in the trash bin. When she returned, she took her seat again and stared down at her folded hands, sitting on the surface of the table.

"Have you decided which of your Pokémon you're going to use yet?" Will asked, feeling curious. At first, he believed she would make her appeals with Eevee, since he was the most experience. But as she moved to work with her other Pokémon, he became uncertain. Heck, there was even a possibility in his mind that she would use her new Trapinch.

"I'm going to compete in the appeal round with Vulpix," she said after a long pause. Next to her, Eevee narrowed his eyes and looked away at her decision. "But I'm going to use Eevee in the battling round. I can trust him to get us all the way to the winning round. Besides, he's had the most practice, in appeals and in battling."

Upon hearing that Eevee's glare softened, and he gently nuzzled Bella's side. Will, on the other hand, wasn't too sure about the choice.

"But are you really sure using Vulpix is a good idea? I mean his trainer just recently abandoned him. I would think that would cause some lack of self-confidence." Will replied.

"Just earlier today you were all hopped up on the 'We can do' feeling, and now you're second guessing abilities? What's with the change in heart?" Bella asked, a bit confused by Will's switch in attitude.

Will wasn't sure how to respond to that. He had noticed the apparent flip-flop, but at the same time he wasn't that sure what caused it. It was possible he had been a bit overconfident in facing Team Twilight, since he had run into them before. Or maybe winning a Gym badge had just caused an emotional high that caused his logic to be faulty. Either way, there was a contradiction.

"Uh, well, I'm not to sure. I guess I just wasn't thinking straight earlier, and now that I've calmed down some my head is a bit clearer?" He said, rubbing the back of his head, an unconscious act acknowledging his own confusion. Bella just gave him a suspicious look, possibly catching onto his own confusion, before leaning on the table.

"Well, whether or not you're thinking straight, I'm going to use Vulpix tomorrow, and I know we are going to win."

Upset with her friend's obvious lack of confidence in her choice, Bella let her emotions get the better of her as she stood up from the table and began to walk out of the cafeteria. She paused in walking, and without looking back, she said, "I'm tired, and I'd like to get some sleep for the Contest tomorrow so I'm going to bed. See you in the morning." And with that, she continued with the short trek to her room.

As his trainer continued to walk to the trainer rooms, Eevee jumped to his paws, looking startled. She had never just left him behind before. Without a second glance at Will, he quickly stood up and jumped off the seat's edge of the booth to follow Bella. He paused, much like his trainer. He, however, turned around to send Will and apologetic glance. "Uree!"

Will watched Eevee follow his trainer out of one of the main rooms of the Pokémon Center with a glum look. Bella had never acted much like this with him before, and to say he was worried was an understatement. He sighed, as he too stood up from his seat to make his way to his own room. At least his friend had the right idea - it was getting late, and he didn't want to fall asleep during Bella's appeal tomorrow. It was time for bed.

* * *

Bella was almost sick to her stomach as she waited backstage at the contest hall in Amarillo City. She could hear the roaring crowds that were eagerly awaiting the appeals to begin. Eevee was snuggling up against her, trying to calm his trainer down a bit, even if he was a bit nervous himself.

Will had made his way backstage to talk to Bella before the show. He had woken up a bit late, and had missed her that morning so he was trying to make up for it. The only problem is that he had no clue where to start looking. He couldn't see her usual black newsboy cap anywhere. It was because of this that he jumped a little when he heard someone call his name.

Will looked over the girl's clothing. It was a medium length white dress, ruffling a bit near the bottom. The sleeves were really short, barely going past the shoulders. They too were ruffled. She was also wearing a black vest as well as a pair of black ballet flats, and it was those two things that made Will realize who he was looking at. That and the Eevee that was currently glaring at him, subtlety of course.

"Bella? I'm sorry I didn't recognize you earlier. I didn't recognize you without your hat," he commented.

"It's not that big of a change is it?" Bella replied nervously. She had really liked the dress, but if Will couldn't tell the difference between her normal clothes and her coordinator outfit, would anyone else in the region?

"No, no, I'm just really oblivious at times. I was trying to locate you by your cap… Anyway, how are you holding up?" Will asked, trying to shift the subject away from his failure to recognize Bella.

"I'm doing fine for the most part. I'm a bit nervous though. The crowds are a bit bigger than I thought they would be for my first contest in the region."

"Well, Amarillo City is the largest city in the region. Heck, even the Grand Festival gets held here every once in awhile," Will replied, realizing that the statement probably wouldn't help her that much, "but I'm sure that you'll do great. You've already competed in Contests in Kanto, so it's not like you'll be surprised by anything?'

"That's true, but even with that in mind I can't help but be nervous. I'm sure once I'm out there on stage I'll be fine… and so will Vulpix," Bella added, remembering their conversation from the night before.

Before Will could get a reply, the crowd began to go wild, and the announcer began to speak.

"Welcome everyone to Amarillo City, where coordinators from all around the Perslas Region compete to win this ribbon, and once they have gotten five of them they will qualify for the Grand Festival. Now then, let's introduce our judges…"

"So then, I guess I should get going then?" Will said as the announcer continued on with her introduction to the show, "See you after the show then."

With that Will left to go find himself a seat, and Bella nearly jumped out of her skin when the Contest announcer began to talk into the microphone once again, "Alright, now our first contestant is here all the way from Kanto, give it up for Bella! It's her first Contest here in Perslas, but she's competed in many Contests in Kanto, so this should be a treat for you all!"

Bella took a sharp intake of breath as she grabbed Vulpix's Pokeball and gently slid it into a ball capsule that she had bought the day before. Eevee's eyes narrowed as he noticed that his trainer's hands were trembling as she placed a fire-seal over the front of the ball capsule. She turned to look at him with nervous eyes.

"Wish me luck, Eevee," she said, her voice trembling slightly. Minding her dress, she knelt down carefully to get the Evolution Pokémon's head. "You stay here while I make my appeal. I'll meet you in the back when I'm done, okay? Or you can go hang out with Will in the audience."

Bella lifted herself back onto her feet with another nervous intake of breath. Her eyes slid shut for a moment as she concentrated on only her breathing. Her eyes snapped back open, and Eevee was surprised at the confidence and determination in her eyes. Taking one last glance at her Pokémon, she stepped out onto the stage and into the spotlight.

"Center stage, Vulpix, let's show them all what you can do!" Bella exclaimed with a new burst of confidence and smiling all the way, and she tossed the Pokeball into the air to release her Pokémon. "Use Sunny Day!"

Vulpix emerged from her Pokeball with a burst of flames, a seal Bella clearly picked to show off her Pokémon's abilities. The Fox Pokémon landed on the ground, only to spring up from it like she was on a trampoline. She somersaulted in mid-air as her whole body became enveloped in a bright light, signaling her use of Sunny Day. As Vulpix landed and the light that encased her body faded, the Contest stadium became bright with light from the sun. The rays of light cascaded down on Vulpix, enhancing the red-gold highlights in her fur.

As the audience 'ohh' appropriately, Bella smiled widely; things were all going according to plan. "Okay Vulpix," she said, again, ready to call out another move to Vulpix to beautify. "Kick start this with Fire Spin!"

Vulpix, however, was no where near as order-ready and confident as she was before. Her tawny eyes were wide and unblinking as she stared at the audience with what could only be described as fear in her eyes. The Fox Pokémon's body began to tremble as the enormous size of the audience continued to intimidate the fire-fox.

"Vulpix? Vulpix, are you okay?" Bella said worriedly with a glance at the audience, who had gone oddly quiet with random murmurs here and there at the frozen Pokémon. "Vulpix, we don't have to do this… Um, we can leave at anytime if you're not ready. But you know what, the audience isn't something to be afraid of – they want to see you perform! That's what they're here for, but if you want to leave…"

At the sound of Bella's defeated voice, telling her that they could leave and that it didn't matter, Vulpix snapped out of her frozen state. Not bothering to look at her trainer, she tilted her head up and blasted out a spiral of flames from their mouth that reached higher and higher into the air. "Pix!" she cried, knowing exactly what she was supposed to do since they had practiced their routine the day before.

Soon, however, the flames from the Fire Spin attack became so large that they actually gradually developed into an actual spinning vortex. Vulpix finally stopped shooting the spinning flames from her mouth, and let the vortex wrap around her so that she was unseen and trapped inside of it.

Bella grinned, feeling proud that Vulpix actually got over her stage fright on her own. She would have left and forfeit the Contest if Vulpix wasn't feeling up to it. She wasn't one to force her Pokémon to do something they didn't want to. "Great job, Vulpix," she exclaimed, "Could you please finish this up with a Will-O-Wisp?"

"Vuuul…" The center of the vortex emitted a soft blue glow in the shapes of Vulpix's eyes signaling the beginning of a Will-O-Wisp attack. Four other small glows suddenly appeared above what was thought to be the Fox Pokémon's head, signalizing that the small blue flames of the attack had been formed.

The audience awed once more, but this time from fascination rather than the beauty or appeal of the combination as the four blue flames began to move around in a circular motion from within the still-spiraling vortex of flames. The Will-O-Wisp moved outward each time the flames completed a loop, where they finally broke through the tornado – completely shattering it.

Embers fell down from the sky like rain from the now-demolished fire vortex, and Vulpix showed off her speed as well as dodging the small flames by using a Quick Attack. The trail of sparkles mingled with the falling embers, creating another beautiful scene for the audience to admire.

Their appeal ended as the flames and sparkled finally died down, and Vulpix bounded over to her, nimbly jumping into her trainer's awaiting arms. Bella giggled, hugging her Pokémon close as the crowd went wild. Even though they had a rocky start, they still pulled it off at making a beautiful appeal. Vulpix jumped out of Bella's arms, allowing her to courtesy to the audience before they both headed backstage to allow the next coordinator to perform.

Up in the audience, Will had been eyeing the performance with a tinge of envy. It was a beautiful sight, and in battle the vortex would be an excellent shield. He was a little miffed he never thought of doing something like that. This was, however, Bella's day, and he quickly got such thoughts out of his head. He looked next to him at Wartortle, who he had let out to enjoy the show. A small laugh escaped from him as he noticed the turtle Pokémon looked absolutely enthralled by the Vulpix's show.

"Bella, you need to stay out her for a moment so the judges can give you a score," the announcer said, motioning for Bella to return to the stage. Bella rushed back over, her face turning red as she blushed in embarrassment. She apologized for forgetting, and then stood nervously in anticipation of the judges' scores. "Now let's here about Bella's performance from our judges; first up is our very own Nurse Joy from Amarillo City!"

"That was an excellent performance, Bella," she said truthfully. "Although, I do suggest that you work on improving your Vulpix's confidence. Stage fright is a terrible thing for a Pokémon to have in the middle of a Contest. You were very sensitive in knowing your Pokémon's limits. Maybe it wasn't quite ready for its Contest début?"

"Wow!" the announcer exclaimed as Nurse Joy finished up her comments on Bella and Vulpix's appeal. "That was some great praise and advice from our very own Nurse Joy! Now let's move onto our next judge, president of the Pokémon Fan Club, Mr. Sukizo!"

"Well, I'd have to say that the two started off a little shaky," the small bald man began hesitantly, hands folded together on his lap. "But the appeal afterword was truly remarkable! A beautiful sight to see indeed."

At Nurse Joy and Mr. Sukizo's praise, Bella was feeling a little more than relieved. She knew Vulpix's limits, especially which it had just gone through a traumatic event in its life. While she knew the Fox Pokémon had already done a great job, she was glad to see that its small moment of stage fright hadn't ruined everything.

There was, however, one more judge left to go, and this one Bella didn't know. The man was dressed a bit strange, with a yellow jacket with red spots on the arms being paired up with a pair of dark jeans. His head was topped off with a messy mop of red hair, but Bella was more interested in his face. At the moment, his hands were propping it up, and he was staring at her and Vulpix intensely. It was kind of disturbing, and she had a feeling the guy wasn't going to be giving a good score.

"So then Duke, what do you have to say about Bella's flaming performance?" the announcer asked, completely interested in the man's answer. All eyes were on the man, and up in the stands Will's head perked up at the mention of the name. He thought the man looked familiar, but he'd talk to Bella about it after the judging.

"Sorry about that," he said suddenly with a low chuckle as he straighten up in his seat. "I was only trying to raise the tension. It makes things more fun." Duke cleared his throat in attempt to bring a more serious atmosphere into the hall. "Well, I'd have to say that Bella's handling of Vulpix's stage fright wasn't very impressive at all. Although she didn't panic, she offered to quit instead of pushing through it. Quitting should only be a last resort in any situation. The performance afterword was brilliant though. Her combinations were well thought out and displayed."

"Wow, what as well thought out answer from Duke!" the announcer cried into her microphone. "I would expect nothing less from him." She motioned for Bella to head backstage as she turned back from the judges to the audience. "And now, let's move on to our next contestant!"

Bella sighed as he moved through the backstage area to where the other Coordinators were waiting for their own turns. As soon as she plopped down into a bench, minding her dress of course, Eevee jumped out from beneath it and sat next to her. Mimicking Eevee's actions, Vulpix jumped up onto the bench on Bella's other side, nuzzling her hand and looking apologetic.

"Didn't Vulpix do great, Eevee?" she asked to her shiny Pokémon, looking down at him with a look of pride on her face. Her eyes narrowed suddenly. "Duke didn't think so, though. But then again, he doesn't know what Vulpix has been through either. I suppose he has a right to think things like that."

Both Eevee and Vulpix didn't know how to answer, so silence ensued in the backstage room of the Contest hall, save for the chatter of other Coordinators and the announcer's voice through the speakers of the TV that was provided to allow Coordinators waiting backstage to watch the competition.

Time passed, and Bella kept herself busy throughout the rest of the appeal round by watching the other Coordinator's performances on the TV with mild interest, looking down at her Pokémon or glancing around the room every so often. There was an appeal, however, that really began to make her nervous.

From the audience, Will worriedly stared at the performance that was happening right in front of his eyes. The Coordinator's name was Lily, and she and her Espeon were in perfect sync as she asked it politely for a Psybeam attack, and then to follow up with Psychic. The Sun Pokémon complied, making different multicolored pictures in midair by controlling the flow and shape of colors from the previous Psybeam attack.

Bella had to be getting worried by this point, Will presumed as the judges commented on Lily and her Espeon's marvelous appeal, saying nothing but good things about the Sun Pokémon's performance. But then, however, it was time for the final count for Coordinators who made it into the second round.

Pictures of Coordinators appeared on the screen one by one, and Will searched nervously for a picture of Bella. Scanning through the faces of ten or so Coordinators that made it through the first round, Will nearly fell of his seat as he sighed in relief, finally spotting a picture of Bella in the last couple of photos.

Before he could get up to visit Bella before the next round, the pictures began to be rearranged into pairs in order to show who would be battling who in the next round. Upon seeing Bella being placed up against the Lily girl, Will hoped that Bella wouldn't get nervous.

Backstage, Bella watched the same pairing up of trainers, and her stomach sank as she saw she was placed up against Lily. Eevee, who at that point had almost collapsed due to boredom, perked up upon sensing Bella's unease. He looked up at the screen, remembering the girl and her Espeon from earlier, but he quickly huffed as if she was nothing. Sure, the Espeon knew some fancy tricks with a Psybeam, but he was an expert at coordinator battles.

Bella heard the little fox's huff, and had to laugh a little as she ruffled his fur. "You sound pretty confident, Eevee. Guess I should take a bit of a lesson from you."

"Uree," Eevee replied, giving Bella a bit of a toothy grin to show that he understood what she had meant by the comment; the pleasant feeling of her hand messing with his fur also helped.

"Vulpix," the other fox Pokémon cried, cuddling up next to Bella to try and get into the scene. Bella used her free hand to pet her, and soon she started to feel better herself. She didn't really care if Duke didn't enjoy her performance, or if Lily was a good coordinator. Her Pokémon were not going to let her down, and that was all she was going to need to win this contest.

Just then Will made his way into the room and made a beeline for Bella. He still thought she would be a bit depressed, but he breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her happy and surrounded by her Pokémon. "So, I guess you're not too bummed out by Duke and Lily?"

"At first I was, but it's kind of hard to be sad when these two are cuddling up against you," she replied with a laugh.

"They are pretty adorable," Will said, rubbing his hand across Eevee's head. He pulled back though when he heard the Pokémon growl. "I guess he still doesn't like me that much."

"He's just being overprotective. I'm sure he'll get over it soon, riiight Eevee?" Bella said, looking down on her partner. He just looked up at her innocently, but the sound of the speakers turning on drew everyone's attention.

"Bella and Lily, your presence is requested on the field."

With that brief message, Bella knew that it was time to get moving. She had a battle, and therefore a contest, to win. She said a brief goodbye to Will, who headed back to the audience to watch the battle. He had never really watched a contest battle before, and he was very interested to see how they differed from gym battles. Bella headed towards the stage, and took her spot on the field soon after she recalled Eevee into his Pokeball.

From here she could get a much better look at Lily then she could have on the television screen. Her dress was sparkly, medium-length blue one that just forced you to pay attention to her. At the moment her long, blond hair was draped over her shoulder, but in preparation for the battle she was currently moving it behind her. As for her eyes, Bella could tell by the determination in them that Lily wasn't going to be a push over. This was going to be match to remember.

"Alright you contest fans; it's time for the second round Field Battle to begin. Our first set of contestants is Bella and Lily!" the announcer exclaimed with much rigor, pumping a fist up into the air with excitement. "The timer is set for five minutes! Now… begin!"

"Center stage, Eevee!" Bella exclaimed with a flick of her wrist as she tossed Eevee's capsule covered Pokeball into the air. The silver-fox appeared with a somersault through a flurry of golden stars that flew out from his Pokeball with him due to the star seal that Bella had previously placed on it.

"Curtain call, Espeon!" Lily exclaimed as she tossed her Pokeball into the air with grace, spinning around with a small twirl as she did so. The Pokeball cracked open, tossing confetti all over the place as Espeon emerged through it, landing on her feet as gracefully as a cat. "Start off with Psychic and then use Iron Tail!"

"Espeee…" The Sun Pokémon hummed as her eyes brightened with a blue glow. From across the field, Eevee struggled against her Psychic hold as he was outlined in the same blue glow, and lifted into the air. Once Eevee was immobile, Espeon dashed forward, the Psychic attack still holding strong, and her tailed glowed white.

"Wait for it… wait for it," Bella muttered to herself under her breath as she watched Espeon dash forward with calculating eyes. Finally, when Espeon jumped into the air to attack the still petrified Eevee with her Iron Tail, she used her chance. "Use Bite, now, Eevee!"

Instead of Espeon's Iron Tail making contact with Eevee as an attack, the Evolution Pokémon clamped his fangs around her tail, making sure that he had a strong hold. Espeon screeched in pain, and her Psychic hold was finally shattered, and the two fell to the ground. Eevee landed gracefully on his feet, while Espeon toppled to the ground on her back. Her tail still in his mouth, he spun around and flung the Sun Pokémon.

Espeon was thrown to the ground with a thud, causing Lily to gasp at her Pokémon's dazed state. "Espeon, stand back up and use Quick Attack!" Lily ordered. "And then use Psybeam to cloak yourself while using Quick Attack!"

"Spee spee spee!" Espeon said as she used her Quick Attack as soon as she was standing on all four legs again. Sparkles and a flash of light trailed around behind her, and as soon as she gained considerable speed, she used a Psybeam and the rainbow-colored beam encased her whole body as she dashed forward, making it almost as if it were a Flame Wheel or Volt Tackle.

"Shadow Ball, Eevee!" Bella ordered, knowing exactly what she was doing, since that had just perfected the combination prior to that day. Eevee followed his trainer's command, and he opened his jaws as a sphere of black energy grew at the back of his throat. Snapping his jaws shut, the Shadow Ball took off and hurled itself toward the oncoming Espeon.

Eevee had a feeling he knew what Bella was thinking, so there was no need for an exchange of words or orders between the two. Espeon was moving too quickly to dodge the attack, and the shadowy sphere slammed into her, effectively breaking the Psybeam and stopping her Quick Attack all at once as she took the hit. Still recovering from the blow, she didn't even have time to blink as Eevee flew toward her, clamping his jaws around one of her forelegs with a Bite attack.

The Espeon struggled to free itself of Eevee, shaking its leg with as much force as possible. Eevee's hold proved to be too much, however, and it soon gave up on that. Tired out, it collapsed on the ground.

Up in the stand, Will had been watching the entire battle with interest. Eevee had many advantages over the Espeon. The Bite and Shadow Ball attacks were great against Psychic attacks, and Eevee seemed to move much faster than Espeon. The poor thing never even got much of a chance to attack. The circle next to Lily's picture on the television screen showed all of this as her points began to rapidly deplete.

With Espeon down, Eevee decided to finally let go and began to walk back towards Bella. Bella, meanwhile, was filled to almost bursting with excitement. She had been so worried about the match, and her she was winning it with her points almost completely filled. It had been easy, though she had this nagging feeling that it was almost too easy to believe.

A few seconds later, she found out why she had that feeling. Eevee yelped as a blast of Psybeam hit him straight in the back. Everyone gasped with confusion, but turning towards Espeon they found that the Pokémon had gotten back on its feet, eyes glowing a deep blue. The Psybeam was covered with a blue aura, and was currently pummeling Eevee.

As the Psychic-led Psybeam continued to attack Eevee over and over, Bella noticed that it was slowly raising Eevee into the air.

"Eevee, try and pull off a Shadow Ball and break loose."

But the order proved vain as every time Eevee had a moment to collect the necessary energy, the Psybeam would return to pummel him. Eventually the attack began to fade as the Psybeam's energy drained, but not before a large chunk of Bella's points were dropped. She was about even with Lily now, but she knew it wasn't over yet.

"Alright then Espeon, let's finish this up. Use Quick Attack to gain some momentum, and then hit him with hard with an Iron Tail."

Espeon quickly dashed forward, using the power of Quick Attack to gain the momentum and speed matched only by Bella's racing heart. Eevee was too injured from the Psybeam's to defend himself, so when Espeon spun around to smash him with Iron Tail, he took it full blast. In a moment it was all over as Eevee landed on the ground out cold. Espeon land a moment afterwards, and sat in the middle of the stage triumphantly. The rest of Bella's points disappeared.

"And that's it!" the announcer exclaimed as the buzzer sounded and the screen from the battle was replaced with the picture of the winner and their Pokémon. From the audience, Will looked disappointed, it was a great battle and all, but… "Our winner is Lily and her Espeon!"

"We did it Espeon!" Lily exclaimed to her Espeon as the cat Pokémon jumped happily into her trainer's arms, both clearly happy with their accomplishment. "Espe epse!" The two laughed, hugging each other close as the judges motioned her forward to take a bow and then head backstage to await her next battle in the Contest.

Bella's shoulder slumped, looking downcast and her eyes lowered and watery. Feigning bravery, she flashed Eevee a smile as he shook himself out of his daze. He crept toward her, body close to the ground and ears splayed. He crooned an apologetic sound as he reached her feet, and was surprised when she scooped him into her arms.

"You did a wonderful job, Eevee," she said, scratching the back of his ears. "I couldn't have asked for you to perform better." Eevee, however, would not take it upon himself to actually enjoy her attention. Instead, he was confused, why wasn't she sad? They had just lost a Contest for crying out loud! "Let's go backstage now, m'kay? They're going to want to start the next battle soon.

With the silver-fox Pokémon in her arms, Bella headed through the doorway to the backstage as the judges began to comment on their previous battle. She didn't really want to hear what they had to say, so she ducked her head and hurried back into the room where the rest of the Coordinators were.

"That was a remarkable battle!" Mr. Sukizo exclaimed, nodding his head. "Lily really showed off her Espeon's Psychic-type with those moves. Especially keeping its Psybeam in place using Psychic. Eevee preformed remarkably well, too, though. Though it didn't use as many special moves like Espeon did, its physical attack combinations were well thought out. Brilliant for a battle between evolutions."

"I'm going to have to agree with Mr. Sukizo," Nurse Joy said. "Both Coordinators showed off their Pokémon wonderfully; it's a plus that battle between evolutions are always quite interesting. Bella did a good job in keeping her Eevee on his toes. Any trainer knows how hard it is to battle an evolution of their own Pokémon."

Duke was currently lying back in his chair, eyes lazily looking up at the ceiling. "Well, it was a good battle," he said. "Lily showed an excellent use of special attacks and abilities in her combinations. Bella showed she knows the more physical aspects of attacks, and I must say she was more comfortable in this match then the last. I would suggest she teach that Eevee to not be so arrogant though as it kind of cost them the battle."

"And that's it!" the announcer said as soon as the judges were finished commenting the battle that just took place before them. "Now let's move onto out next battle! This time around it's…"

Will didn't stay in the audience long enough to hear whatever else the announcer planned on saying. As soon as the comments were over he grabbed Wartortle's hand and dragged him out of the benches and to back stage. He blinked in confusion when he finally found Bella talking to all _four_ of her Pokémon, planning what they were going to do for the next Contest.

"Vulpix, I'm not going to push you anymore; it was my fault that in the appeals, I should have known you weren't ready for anything like this, so you're going to take a small break from any Contests for a while," she said as Vulpix bowed her head sadly, ears drooping.

"Pi! Pi pichu! Chuuu!" the Tiny Mouse Pokémon squeaked rapidly, so fast that Bella could barely tell it was saying its own name. One of Pichu's arms was lifted into the air, and it was waving it back and forth. It reminded Bella of a small child at school who knew the answer and eagerly wanted to be picked on.

Bella laughed, and leaned down to pat Pichu's head gently, and the Tiny Mouse immediately calmed down. "I think I know what you want," she giggled. "You want to take Vulpix's place in the appeal round, don't you?" Pichu nodded eagerly. "Alright then, but we'll have to do some extra special training, because I'm not quite sure what we can pull off with your moves."

"Uree?!" Eevee demanded, looking upset and… really mad? He glared up at her, his blue eyes shining in frustration, and in that instant Will knew exactly what it was saying: 'What about me?!' Trapinch, hearing Eevee's demand, joined in with an irritated, "Pinch?!"

"Okay, okay," she said, holding her hands up in front of her to show her innocence. "I haven't forgotten about you two, really I haven't." Eevee huffed and looked away, while Trapinch just grew silent. "You two are going to battle in the finals rounds… That is, if we even get past the first one…"

Will felt his heart clench as he saw his friend's eyes water once again, and she stared down silently at her hands folded in her lap. Taking that as his cue to appear and try to cheer her up, and he stepped deeper into the backstage room, Wartortle following behind him. Bella's Pokémon looked up instantly, recognizing his presence.

"Hey," he said when Bella was too oblivious to took up, and her head snapped up in shock. He inwardly cringed when he saw tears pricking at her eyes. He tried to take a step forward, but Eevee bounded between him and his trainer, eyes narrowed and an almost inaudible growl at the back of his throat. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine!" she exclaimed, trying to stop the tremor from entering her voice. She jumped up into her feet and wiped away her tears as fast as she could, hoping that Will hadn't seen them. "See? Perfectly fine. It's just… Y'know, I really need some air. I'm going to go for a quick walk around the grounds. Could you watch my Pokémon for me?"

"Yeah, sure. No problem." Will replied as he took a seat on the bench, watching as Bella headed out into the night.

The next few minutes were relatively silent, with Bella's Pokémon just sitting there looking at Will and Wartortle. That is, all of them but Eevee. He was more interested in the door, and by the looks of it he wanted to follow Bella. Will, however, wasn't going to let him. Bella needed some time to think on her own, to just get away from it all.

This proved to not be a good option, however, as Eevee eventually sulked over to the door and kept trying to get at the knob. Will tried to ignore it, petting Vulpix and chatting with the rest of Bella's Pokémon and Wartortle. By the time he heard the soft moaning of Eevee, however, he knew he had to help the poor guy.

"All right you four, I'm going to take Eevee out and look for Bella. Stay here and be good alright. We'll be back in a minute."

Getting up, he walked over to Eevee, was by this point was sitting down in frustration and glaring at the door. Will grabbed the handle, and had to smile at the sudden perkiness Eevee had when the door opened. He started to look around for the source of it, but the joy disappeared when he saw that it was Will who had done it. A low growl escaped from his throat, but Will just rolled his eyes at it.

"You know, I'm glad to see that you care about Bella Eevee but for once can't you stop with the jealousy and just let me help. Right now you and I have the same goal of helping Bella. But if you're going to be such a grouch, I'll just shut this door and…"

Will stopped speaking as Eevee's ears splayed and he looked down at the ground. Since it seemed his attempt at shaming the little fox worked, Will started to head out into the night after Bella. Eevee followed right behind, perking up a little bit now that he could find Bella.

It was a bit odd the contest had taken that long, and it was getting pretty dark outside. On the bright side, there was a full moon out. Between that and the streetlights, there was plenty of light for them to see. Will placed his hands in his pocket and slowly walked down the street, eyes darting around trying to catch sight of Bella.

Will couldn't help it when his mind wandered to ghosts as he and Eevee trekked through the dark and creepy alleys of the city. He looked down at the silver fox and was surprised when there wasn't a trace of fear in his blue eyes, which seemed to be glowing in the night; he was completely comfortable in the dark.

"Do you… do you like the dark?" Will questioned nonchalantly to the shiny Pokémon as he shoved his hands awkwardly into his pockets. What? He was compelled to ask a simple question! Eevee glanced up and him with twinkling eyes and nodded. "That's good, I guess, since I'm not too fond of, um… ghosts."

Eevee snorted in contempt, tossing his head back as he held back a snicker. He had to give some kind of attempt to get along with his trainer's friend, and he supposed this was a start. After all, he had brought him out to search for Bella, when he could have just kept him locked inside.

"So, uh…" Will began, not really sure what to say to Bella's partner, especially since he knew that Evolution Pokémon wasn't too fond of him. "How long have you been with Bella on her journey? I'm not exactly sure what to guess myself since she's travelled in Kanto before this."

"Ureeeeeee!" the silver fox howled lowly, dragging out the syllable of his answer to show just how long he and Bella had been travelling together as partners. "Uraaaaaa!" He shook his head as he narrowed his eyes; this wasn't exactly telling him how long they had been together, especially since…

"Oh, that's right!" Will said suddenly when he remembered what Bella had told him on the first day they met. "Bella hatched you from an egg that her dad's Vaporeon had, didn't she?" he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I forgot about that for a second there."

Eevee had to laugh at the embarrassed expression on Will's face; it wasn't his fault it was hilarious! "Ureee –" The Evolution Pokémon's laughter suddenly cut off as he stopped dead in his tracks, his ears pricked and his eyes dangerously narrowed. Will was about to ask what was wrong when a sudden feminine scream echoed through the alley.

Will looked down at Eevee, who immediately met his gaze. Tearing his gaze away from his trainer's friend, he took off through the alley toward the location of the sound at full speed, and Will followed along as fast as he could behind him, calling out Bella's name frantically.

No more than a minute later, the two crashed into a small lot in the city. A sudden gasp caught their attention as they tried to catch their breath, and a voice calling their names snapped them back into reality. "Eevee! Will!" Bella exclaimed in relief, and they could hear the watery tone to her voice, signaling that she had been crying.

Will looked up from catching his breath from his position on the ground, only to be met by the sight of Bella caught in a huge spider web! "You have to get out of here," she rushed on, her words not that coherent. "They'll come back again, so you two have to get out of here or you'll be trapped too!"

"Who are 'they'?" Will asked, eyes darting quickly throughout the area trying to see this invisible threat.

"The Ariados," Bella replied, with the usual mix of fear and anger that accompanied any mention of Bug Pokémon by her.

"Well, they aren't here now, so we'll get you out of here quick and make a run back to town. You'll be safe there," Will said as he took a step towards the giant web. Bella started to protest the rescue as she didn't want them to be trapped as well. Will just told her it was a bit of nonsense, and began to tear at the various parts of the web.

Eevee started to come over to help as well, but stopped when he thought he heard clicking sounds. His ears perked up, and he started to look around nervously. He didn't see anything, but he had a feeling that something was out there.

Bella noticed his nervousness, and started to panic. "Will, you might want to hurry. I think Eevee hears them coming."

"I'm going as fast as I can, but these Ariados seem to have built some very good webs here. They're a bit harder to break than I thought."

Will kept trying, but Eevee began to bark as the clicking sounds got louder. It was getting annoying, so Will told him to stop in case it alerted the Ariados to their presence, and this just made Eevee mad. He ran over to Will's leg and bit him, causing the trainer to turn around.

"I thought we talked about being… nice?"

Will had a good reason to stop the argument before it began, because in front of them was an Ariados. Will gave a quick apology to Eevee, but the Evolution Pokémon didn't really care. It just growled at the spider Pokémon, hoping to scare them off.

"Ariadossss…"

The tone of the Ariados's voice showed it wasn't in the mood to play around, and both Eevee and Will knew they were going to have to take it down if they wanted to get out of here. "Hey Bella, is it alright if I help Eevee through this battle?" He asked.

"Go right ahead Will, but please hurry. All these Bug Pokémon are starting to give me a bit of a heart attack."

Will rolled his eyes at the exaggeration, and then quickly moved his attention to the Ariados. He stood firm and ready to go, but before he got an order out he noticed Eevee had moved, and was racing at the Long Leg Pokémon with a Quick Attack.

This lack of cooperation caused Will to sweat drop, but he decided to try and see if he could command the Evolution Pokémon in any way. "Alright Eevee, once you ram into it with Quick Attack, try and see if you can get a hold of one of it's legs with a Bite. Just be careful of the fangs."

However, he was ignored, and Eevee just ran at the spider, but stopped in its tracks when the Bug Pokémon disappeared. Eevee just looked around, confused, a sentiment shared by Will. The mystery was solved when Ariados appeared from the shadows, striking at Eevee and sending him rolling across the ground.

"A Shadow Sneak attack," Will said to himself through gritted teeth. "This might be a bit harder than I thought. Eevee, see if you can get at it with a Shadow Ball, okay?" The Evolution Pokémon shook his head as he struggled to stand up, wincing as he did so. "No? What do you mean no?"

Eevee finally struggled onto his feet, regaining balance as the Ariados finally revealed themselves through the darkness. "Uraaa!" he cried as his body was enveloped by a bright glowing light. Slowly, his form changed shape into that of a bigger Pokémon, and a bright blue glow shattered the bright light that had enveloped his body only moments before. "Breon!"

"You… you evolved!" Bella squealed in excitement. If it wasn't for the webs keeping her trapped, she would have run over and hugged the newly evolved Pokémon. "That's brilliant, um… Umbreon!"

"And it's probably a good thing. Wonder if you've learned any new attacks. Eev – I mean Umbreon, use Dark Pulse!"

Ariados, temporarily blinded by the glow that had been created during Umbreon's evolution, didn't see what Umbreon was doing. Opening his mouth, he began to focus its energy into a pulsating blast of dark energy. However, all that happened was the normal gathering of it into a dark, spiraling sphere of a Shadow Ball.

Even though he was disappointed that he hadn't learned a new attack, Umbreon still took the chance to fire a shot at Ariados. Just as it regained its sight, it was hit face first by the dark sphere. It rolled on the ground for a second before waving its legs in the air. The momentum eventually succeeded in getting him right side up, but instead of continuing the fight it decided to leave them alone. It wasn't worth all this trouble to get Bella. There were much easier targets to go after, like a Caterpie or a Magikarp.

Umbreon followed the Long Leg Pokémon out of the alley for a few seconds, but once he was sure the Pokémon wouldn't returned he plopped down on the ground. Between the battle and the evolving, he was tired. Besides, the moonlight felt so good and relaxing that he had to stay. As he did so, he began to gain a slight glow, and for some reason he felt that his energy was returning to him.

Will, meanwhile, and finally succeeded in getting Bella out of the web, but she was too distracted by the sight of her new Umbreon to thank him. Her eyes twinkled with joy as she noticed the power the moon was having on her Pokémon. She rushed over to the peaceful Pokémon, and almost crushed him in a hug. He struggled for a second, thinking the Ariados had returned, but upon seeing it was Bella began to lick at her face.

"Umbreon, I think you were using Moonlight! Oh, that will work perfect in the appeal stage. There are so many combinations we could do with that. You have no idea how much better this makes me feel. Next Contest, we're going to win for sure."

"Well, if that's your plan, I suggest that we get back to the Hall and pick up the rest of your Pokémon. You might need them," Will replied with a slight tinge of sarcasm in his voice. He had just remembered that the rest of Bella's Pokémon were still all alone.

"You're right," Bella agreed as she scooped the newly evolved Umbreon into her arms. "We better get them before we call it a night. Besides, I'm sure they can't wait to see what's happened to Eevee – Umbreon, I mean! Man, its going to take a while to get used to that."


End file.
